Arnold Peters

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

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(1996-09-17) (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.

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

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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

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External links

• Arnold Peters – Parliament of Canada biography