# Arnold Peters (politician)

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.
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.
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 :
| 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 :
| 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 :
| 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 :
| 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 :
| 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 :
| Candidate | Votes |
| New Democratic Party | Arnold PETERS | 9,986 |
| Liberal | Mervyn LAVIGNE | 5,885 |
| Progressive Conservative | Bruce BESLEY | 3,823 |
1968 Canadian federal election :
| 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 :
| 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 :
| 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 |
vte1979 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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 28,531 | 100.00 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 149 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 28,680 | 77.40 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 37,053 | |
| Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-first General Election, 1979. |||||||
1980 Canadian federal election :
| 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 |
vteCanadian 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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 25,260 | 100.00 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 111 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,371 | 69.00 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 36,771 | |
| Called after Mr. Lonsdale's death. |||||||