[1] Baldwinson was born in Akureyri, Iceland, and attended public school in that country.
He first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1892 provincial election, and lost to Liberal Frederick Colcleugh by seventy-eight votes in the St. Andrews constituency.
He ran again in the 1896 election, and lost to Liberal Sigtryggur Jonasson by seventy-nine votes.
The Conservatives won the election, and Baldwinson served in the legislature as a backbench supporter of the administrations led by Hugh John Macdonald and Rodmond Roblin.
Jonasson did not seek re-election in the 1910 campaign, and Baldwin returned to the legislature after defeating a new Liberal candidate by 450 votes.