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♀ Lydia Augusta Arsens
aliasLydia Arsens
Record
1604 · 13626

☆  
Type of record
Elected candidate ✓
Known but unelected candidate
Perennial candidate		 Deceased Performance: 33%
  ✓ ✗ ∑
British Columbia 1 2 3
Birth 18 March 1906 → 118 years + 2 months ago
Lived 76 years + 11 months
First mandate 10 June 1953 → 70 years + 11 months ago
↳ at age 47 years + 2 months
Death 25 February 1983 → 41 years + 2 months ago
Exit → Death 26 years + 5 months after 18 September 1956
Special notes
None
 
Lydia Augusta Arsens (1906–1983)
© Photo 2019 Vancouver Sun — Fair trade
Family tie with other documented individual
None
 
Well that's interesting!
A backbench British Columbia Social Credit MLA from 1953 to 1956, Arsens is said to have had a knack for taking controversial positions, which the Victoria Daily Times referred to as "Arsenisms." She was passionately opposed to the pasteurization of milk and the fluoridation of water, but what to this day is still considered her most remarkable Arsenism was her support for a "natural" cancer treatment that used herbs instead of traditional methods. No one, even in her party, supported her views.
 

Length of service in elected office

Legislature Total Government Opposition
years months days years months days years months days
British Columbia 3 3 8 Z

Electoral history

Races 3  
Path points 3  
6 documented challengers
⊖ William Chant  m 
⊖ Nancy Hodges  f  (2 runoffs)
⊖ John D. Smith  m 
 		 ⊖ George F.T. Gregory  m 
⊖ Erni Knott  m 
⊖ Montague L. Tyrwhitt-Drake  m 
 
Eligible: 35,632 Votes: 25,821 Participation: 72.47% Candidacies: 5
Provincial
23		 British Columbia
12 June 1952
General
Instant runoff/Alt.
Gov't  SC  Minority
ID: 29765(F) — 13 Aug 2022 12:22 ET
✗
 Defeated but elected later to this legislature
Age
46
SC
 3/5 4,518 18.96% -4,287 Winner:
LIB
 8,805 36.95% Nancy Hodges
Eligible: 34,101 Votes: 24,591 Participation: 72.11% Candidacies: 6
Provincial
24		 British Columbia
10 June 1953
General
Instant runoff/Alt.
Gov't  SC  Majority
ID: 29821(F) — 30 Jul 2021 23:22 ET
✓
 → New to this legislature
Age
47
SC
 1/6 8,616 37.81% +1,701 Loser:
LIB
 6,915 30.35% Nancy Hodges

Service: 3 years 3 months 8 days (Gov't)
Eligible: 31,502 Votes: 60,771 Participation: 64.30% Candidacies: 13
Provincial
25		 British Columbia
19 September 1956
General
Plurality-at-large (3)
Gov't  SC  Majority
ID: 29867(F) — 20 Sep 2021 17:24 ET
✗
 Defeated incumbent →
Age
50
SC
 4/13 7,827 38.80% -581 Winner:
LIB
 8,408 41.68% George F.T. Gregory

Online biographical references (3)

 Retrieved on
EN Non-standard link
John Mackie, Vancouver Sun (22 February 2019), This Week in History: 1956 — A Socred MLA touts a quack cure for cancer		 11 May 2024
EN Find a Grave
Lydia Augusta Lammel Arsens		 11 May 2024
EN Wikipedia
Lydia Arsens		 11 May 2024

© 2019, 2024 :: PoliCan.ca (Maurice Y. Michaud)
Pub.: 22 Jun 2019 17:01
Rev.: 11 May 2024 19:31 (but data presented dynamically)

© 2019-2024 :: PoliCan.ca
Given that electoral results are by their very nature public information, such data that can be found in PoliCan are considered to be in the public domain. However, unless indicated otherwise, all other elements — the concept of consolidating these data into a single format, the detailed research on each election, legislature and candidate, the organization and searchability of the data, the programming allowing the entry and maintenance of the data, as well as the analyses and explanatory articles found in this website — are the intellectual property of Maurice Y. Michaud.