Deborah Drever

Deborah Drever (born August 15, 1988) is a Canadian who was a politician elected in the 2015 general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Calgary-Bow.[1] A sociology student at Mount Royal University in Calgary, she defeated Progressive Conservative challenger Byron Nelson in the May 5, 2015, election in a riding that had historically elected Conservative candidates.[1][2][3]

Deborah Drever
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Bow
In office May 5, 2015 – April 16, 2019
Preceded by	Alana DeLong
Succeeded by	Demetrios Nicolaides
Personal details
Born	(1988-08-15) August 15, 1988 Calgary, Alberta
Political party	Alberta New Democratic Party (2015, 2016–)
Other political affiliations	Independent (2015)
Residence	Calgary, Alberta
Alma mater	Mount Royal University
Occupation	student, politician

She was elected as a member of the Alberta New Democratic Party, but was sworn in as an independent MLA after being barred from the caucus because of a controversy about her social media activities prior to her candidacy. In 2016, she was readmitted to the NDP caucus.[4]

Deborah Drever ran for re-election in the 2019 Alberta general election, but was defeated by Demetrios Nicolaides of the United Conservative Party, as the UCP gained back all but a handful of seats they had lost in the Calgary area in 2015.

Political career

Social Media Controversy

Immediately after the 2015 election, Drever was criticized on social media after pictures from her Facebook page were circulated that showed somebody giving the finger to the Canadian flag and Drever posing with a "Magic Weed" (marijuana) tee-shirt.[5][6] The pictures were later removed from her Facebook account.[5] On May 15, 2015, Drever again attracted controversy when it was discovered that she posed in an assault scene for a music album cover. The image raised concerns among some observers who saw it as promoting sexual violence against women.[7] Petitions were started[8] and a protest was organized,[9] asking Drever to resign.

On May 20, 2015, Premier-designate Rachel Notley announced that she had directed Drever, as a result of the media attention, to create a plan to improve education on violence against women, particularly outreach to groups working with vulnerable young women.[10] Two days later, the NDP announced that Drever had been suspended from caucus after a homophobic remark was found posted from Drever's Instagram account. Notley said that she would review Drever's status within a year.[11]

Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence

Drever wrote a private member's bill designed to protect victims of domestic violence by allowing them to break leases and move out of their rental accommodations early. Her bill was unanimously approved by the legislature in the fall of 2015 and won her accolades from both sides of the legislative assembly. In January 2016, after Premier Notley decided that Drever had exceeded the criteria given to her in order to be readmitted into the government caucus, she was allowed to rejoin the NDP caucus.[4]

Electoral history

2015 general election

2015 Alberta general election: Calgary-Bow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Deborah Drever	5,669	34.51%	30.47%
	Progressive Conservative	Byron Nelson	5,419	32.98%	-14.22%
	Wildrose	Trevor Grover	3,752	22.84%	-15.08%
	Liberal	Matt Gaiser	682	4.15%	-5.09%
	Alberta Party	Jonathon Himann	459	2.79%	1.19%
	Green	David Reid	448	2.73%	–
Total			16,429	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			122	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			31,990	51.74%	-4.65%
	New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		-3.89%
Source(s) Source: "04 - Calgary-Bow, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2019 Alberta general election: Calgary-Bow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Demetrios Nicolaides	13,987	55.90%	0.08%
	New Democratic	Deborah Drever	8,548	34.16%	-0.35%
	Alberta Party	Paul Godard	1,774	7.09%	4.30%
	Liberal	Daniel Ejumabone	320	1.28%	-2.87%
	Green	Marion Westoll	233	0.93%	-1.80%
	Freedom Conservative	Regina Shakirova	161	0.64%	–
Total			25,023	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			149	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			36,993	68.05%	16.31%
	United Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		10.11%
Source(s) Source: "03 - Calgary-Bow, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

References

1. Stephen Ewart (May 6, 2015). "NDP's Drever takes long-time Tory stronghold Calgary-Bow". Calgary Herald. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
2. "CBC News - Alberta Election: Who are the province's new MLAs?". CBC News. May 6, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
3. "Meet some of the new faces elected in Alberta's orange wave". Toronto Star. May 6, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
4. "Calgary MLA Deborah Drever returns to NDP caucus". Calgary Herald. January 8, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
5. "New Calgary-Bow MLA takes down questionable Facebook page". Calgary Herald, May 6, 2015.
6. "Deborah Drever, Rookie NDP MLA, Takes Heat Over Social Media Photos". The Huffington Post, May 6, 2015.
7. "Deb Drever ordered by Notley over 'inappropriate' photo". Calgary Herald. May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
8. "Online petitions want new MLA removed from office due to Facebook photos". Calgary Herald. May 8, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
9. "Calgary student organizes protest to recall NDP MLA Deborah Drever". Global News. May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
10. "MLA Deborah Drever, under fire for 'highly inappropriate' photo, to work with outreach groups". Metro, May 20, 2015.
11. "Here's the image that finally got NDP MLA Deborah Drever suspended from caucus" Archived October 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Calgary Herald, May 22, 2015.