Arnold Peters

Arnold Peters
Arnold Peters
Member of Parliament; for Timiskaming
	In office; 1957–1980
Preceded by	Ann Shipley
Succeeded by	Bruce Lonsdale
Personal details
Born	May 14, 1922; Uno Park, Ontario, Canada
Died	September 17, 1996 (aged 74); Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation → New Democratic Party

William Arnold Peters (May 14, 1922 - September 17, 1996) was a Canadian politician. He represented the riding of Timiskaming in the House of Commons of Canada from 1957 to 1980. He was originally elected as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which became the New Democratic Party in 1961.

For the actor with the same name see Arnold Peters (actor)

Peters, a hard rock miner and union organizer, served in the 124th Ferry Squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He also ran in the 1953 election against Karl Eyre in the Timmins riding, but was not elected.

In Parliament, Peters and his caucus colleague Frank Howard were responsible for reforming Canada's divorce laws. In many provinces, divorce proceedings once had to be presented to Parliament for approval; Peters and Howard tried to show the ridiculousness of this by reading each divorce petition into the Commons record in great detail. Peters was also active in prison reform, and regularly lobbied for fairer treatment of non-unionized government employees. He also prepared a private member's bill in 1964 to decriminalize homosexuality in Canada, although the bill never made it to a vote in the House of Commons.[1]

In the 1980 election, Peters was defeated by Liberal candidate Bruce Lonsdale. Lonsdale died in office just two years later; Peters ran again in the resulting by-election, but was not re-elected.

On September 19, 1996, two days after his death, tributes to Peters were delivered in the House of Commons by Bill Blaikie, Diane Marleau and Ed Harper.

Electoral record

1953 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Karl EYRE	5,541
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Arnold PETERS	4,686
	Progressive Conservative	Maurice BÉLANGER	3,348
	Labor–Progressive	Oscar ROY	369

1957 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Arnold PETERS	6,936
	Liberal	Ann SHIPLEY	6,896
	Progressive Conservative	C. Foster RICE	5,645

1958 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Arnold PETERS	7,544
	Progressive Conservative	C. Foster RICE	7,318
	Liberal	Ted J. MIRON	6,118

1962 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	7,055
	Progressive Conservative	Joseph MAVRINAC	6,053
	Liberal	Ann SHIPLEY	5,969
	Social Credit	Gérard MICHAUD	2,665

1963 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	7,356
	Liberal	Mervyn LAVIGNE	6,763
	Progressive Conservative	John CRAM	5,540
	Social Credit	Camil SAMSON	2,033

1965 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	9,986
	Liberal	Mervyn LAVIGNE	5,885
	Progressive Conservative	Bruce BESLEY	3,823

1968 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	8,482
	Liberal	Louis-R. VANNIER	7,728
	Progressive Conservative	George L. CASSIDY	4,443
	Social Credit	Alcide-J. HAMELIN	288

1972 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	11,327
	Liberal	Dick DUFF	7,768
	Progressive Conservative	Alf GUPPY	3,317
	Social Credit	Albert BRETON	718

1974 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	10,263
	Liberal	Guy IANNUCCI	6,598
	Progressive Conservative	Murray WATTS	4,615
	Social Credit	Maurice CURE	492

1979 Canadian federal election: Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Arnold Peters	11,595	40.64
	Liberal	Pierre Bélanger	10,900	38.20
	Progressive Conservative	Grant Sirola	6,036	21.16
Total valid votes			28,531	100.00
Total rejected ballots			149
Turnout			28,680	77.40
Electors on the lists			37,053
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-first General Election, 1979.

1980 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Bruce LONSDALE	11,135
	New Democratic Party	Arnold PETERS	10,661
	Progressive Conservative	Grant SIROLA	4,901
	Marxist–Leninist	Claudia IRONS	93

Canadian federal by-election, October 12, 1982: Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	John MacDougall	9,029	35.74
	Liberal	Pierre Bélanger	8,341	33.02
	New Democratic	Arnold Peters	7,654	30.30
	Independent	Richard Peever	236	0.93
Total valid votes			25,260	100.00
Total rejected ballots			111
Turnout			25,371	69.00
Electors on the lists			36,771
Called after Mr. Lonsdale's death.

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References

Donald W. McLeod, Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964-1975. ECW Press, 1996. ISBN 1-55022-273-2.

External links

Arnold Peters – Parliament of Canada biography

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[1] Donald W. McLeod, Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964-1975. ECW Press, 1996. ISBN 1-55022-273-2.