Petter Carl Reinsnes

Petter Carl Reinsnes (usually called P.C. Reinsnes) (born 4 October 1904, died 12 March 1976) was a Norwegian politician (Norwegian Labour Party), mayor of the Sortland municipality, county mayor of Nordland, and a member of the Storting.

Petter Ovald Karlsen (later Petter Carl Reinsnes) was born in the Reinsnes district of the Sortland municipality. He was voted into the Sortland county council in the fall of 1931, and became mayor in 1935. He was removed from office by the Nazis in 1941, during the German occupation of Norway, and in 1944 he was forced to escape to Sweden. When the war was over, he returned to the Sortland municipality, and worked as mayor until 1959. His party, the Norwegian Labour Party, lost the municipal election in 1959, and Reinsnes consequently lost his position as mayor. Reinsnes retained his position on the municipal council. After the election in 1963, he was chosen to become the county mayor again, and kept this position until 1975. He was also county mayor of Nordland between 1970 and 1972.

Reinsnes was voted into the Norwegian Parliament in 1957 and remained there for two periods (eight years). In the Parliament, Reinsnes spent most of his time as a member of the foreign affairs committee. He campaigned for the construction of an agriculture school in Vesterålen, and he was a chairman for Vesterålens power group from the start in 1939 until his death in 1976.

In the 1960s, he took the initiative to connect the islands in Vesterålen by a bridge. The Andøy and Kvalsaukan Bridges were opened in 1974, and Sortland Bridge was opened in 1975. Hadsel Bridge was opened in 1978, after his death. He was a chairman in Vesterålsbruene A/S from 1970 until his death. Reinsnes was also engaged in work to obtain an airport for Vesterålen. Stokmarknes Airport was opened in 1972.

Reinsnes was awarded The King's Medal of Merit in gold a short time before his death. He died 12 March 1976 of cancer.

On 26 August 1978, a bust of Reinsnes, made by Nils Aas, was unveiled outside Sortland municipal hall, the same day that the Vesteråls bridges were officially opened by King Olav V.

He was biographed in P. C. Reinsnes - samfunnsbyggeren, by Alf Oxem 2006. ISBN 978-82-991889-2-0

References

• "Petter Carl Reinsnes" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=PERI&tab=Biography. 

Persondata
Name	Reinsnes, Petter Carl
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 October 1904
Place of birth
Date of death	12 March 1976
Place of death