Sam Drover

Education

Drover was educated in Hodge"s Cove and at Memorial University.

Career

He taught school from 1929 until 1938, when he joined the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. Drover tried to enlist in the Royal Air Force in 1942 but was not accepted. He then joined the Newfoundland Ranger Force, serving until 1949.

He was re-elected in 1951.

Drover became disenchanted with Premier Joey Smallwood"s government because he believed that it ignored the problems of rural poverty. He crossed the floor to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1955, becoming the first Cleveland Clinic Foundation member in Newfoundland.

He helped form the new party and became its leader. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation fielded ten candidates in the 1956 election.

Following his defeat, Drover started his own business in Hodge"s Cove.

Drover ran in the 1965 federal election as an "independent Liberal" in Trinity—Conception and in the 1972 election as an independent candidate in Bonavista—Trinity—Conception. On both occasions he came in fourth, behind the three major parties.

Achievements

• The party won no seats, however, and he lost his own seat in the riding now known as Trinity N. lieutenant would take three decades before the Cleveland Clinic Foundation"s successor, the New Democratic Party, was able to win a seat in the legislature.

Membership

He was originally elected as a Liberal member of the House of Assembly in the 1949 election, which was the first after the Dominion of Newfoundland joined the Canadian confederation as a province.