RISE AND FALL: DEBORAH DREVER
April 17: Mount Royal sociology student Deborah Drever, 26, becomes official candidate for the NDP in Calgary-Bow riding.
May 5: Drever wins election in Calgary-Bow, defeating PC lawyer Byron Nelson by 263 votes for the $127,000-a-year MLA job. She is one of 53 NDP candidates sweeping to victory.
May 6: Photos of Drever in front of a marijuana shirt, and a middle finger in front of a Canadian flag, are removed from Twitter and Facebook. Drever tells the Herald, “I guess I’ll have to lay low for a while. Really, I was just joking around. I don’t smoke pot. In fact, I’m allergic to it. And that’s not my finger on the flag.”
May 8: Three online petitions call for Drever to be removed from office, The Canadian Press reports. Drever says she won’t “let these partisan smears distract from my focus on the things that matter to people in Calgary-Bow.” NDP Leader Notley says she doesn’t see the photos as a big problem.
May 15: Drever apologizes after a photo emerges of her posing on a cassette cover for metal band Gatekrashor. She appears to be sexually assaulted with a bottle while four men look on. “The photo I appeared in was in poor taste, and I apologize for its offensive content. It is not a photo I would appear in today,” she said in a statement.
May 20: Notley, commenting for the first time, says she told Drever this week the images were “highly inappropriate.” The NDP leader asked Drever to devise a plan to speak with groups that work with vulnerable young women.
May 21: Drever tells The Canadian Press she regretted the cassette photo shoot. “I am very disappointed in myself that I let (people) down. I really want to prove that I can do a good job.” She noted she has memories of abuse involving her mother and her partner. “I am passionate about women’s issues because of my lived experiences.”
May 22: Notley suspends Drever from caucus after another photo emerges on social media of Jim Prentice and Ric McIver, with the caption “Gay boyz.” Drever will now sit as an Independent. Notley says she’ll review Drever’s status within a year. “I apologize to all Albertans for the homophobic statements contained in this image,” Notley said in a release.