Elaine McCoy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) McCoy in 2010 | |
| Facilitator of the Independent Senators Group | |
| In office September 27, 2016 – September 25, 2017 | |
| Deputy | None[a] |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Yuen Pau Woo |
| Senator forAlberta | |
| In office March 24, 2005 – December 29, 2020 | |
| Nominated by | Paul Martin |
| Appointed by | Adrienne Clarkson |
| MLA forCalgary-West | |
| In office 1986–1993 | |
| Preceded by | Peter Lougheed |
| Succeeded by | Danny Dalla-Longa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1946-03-07)March 7, 1946 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | December 29, 2020(2020-12-29) (aged 74) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Party | Canadian Senators Group(2019–2020) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent Senators Group(2016–2019) Independent Progressive Conservative(2013–2016) Progressive Conservative(2005–2013) Alberta PC(until 1993) |
| Alma mater | University of Alberta |
Elaine Jean McCoyQC (March 7, 1946 – December 29, 2020) was a Canadian politician fromAlberta. She served as a Calgary MLA from 1986 to 1993. She was a member of theSenate of Canada.
In 2005, McCoy was appointed to the Senate. She designated herself a member of theProgressive Conservative Party despite its dissolution two years prior; following the retirement ofLowell Murray in 2011, she was the last remaining member of the Senate to sit as a Progressive Conservative. In 2016, she joined theIndependent Senators Group (ISG) and served as its initial interim facilitator. In 2019, she left the ISG and joined theCanadian Senators Group.
McCoy was previously theAlberta PC MLA forCalgary-West from 1986 to 1993. During this time, she served as Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Minister responsible for Women's Issues and Minister of Labour under PremierDon Getty.
Born inBrandon, Manitoba, Elaine Jean McCoy was the daughter of John Frederick and Jean Stewart (Hope) McCoy.[1] She was an alumna of theUniversity of Alberta, and held an LLB (1969) and Bachelor of Arts in English (1968).[2]
Before entering provincial politics, McCoy worked as senior legal counsel for the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and as counsel for TransAlta Utilities Corporation.[2]
From 1986 to 1993, McCoy was theAlberta Progressive Conservative PartyMember of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) forCalgary-West in theLegislative Assembly of Alberta. She succeededPeter Lougheed in the riding, whom she had previously campaigned with and who had suggested she run in the constituency after he retired.[3] McCoy expected to be a backbencher, as she was not well-connected within the party, and was surprised to be immediately appointed to theExecutive Council of Alberta.[3] She was named Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and Minister responsible for Women's Issues[4][5] by PremierDon Getty. As Minister, McCoy was responsible for creating the Insurance Council of Alberta, restructuring theAlberta Securities Commission, and for introducing a variety of new policies to protect consumers. She was also involved in developing foreign credentials recognition for immigrant professionals.[6]
In 1989, McCoy was appointed Alberta's Minister of Labour and Minister responsible for Human Rights, in which portfolio she was responsible for Alberta's personnel administration office. She set up anAlberta Human Rights Commission inquiry into the Aryan Nations which was responsible for investigating and eliminating supremacist activity in the province.[2] McCoy also shed light on violence against women and spearheaded theLake Louise Declaration,[6] which was Alberta's first action plan designed to fight violence against women, and the first all-Canada declaration on the subject.[7]
When Getty retired in 1992, McCoy ran in the1992 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election to succeed him.[8][9][10] She placed 8th in a field of nine and was eliminated on the first ballot; the contest was won byRalph Klein. Klein did not appoint her to his cabinet, and she did not run for re-election in 1993.[11]
In 1995, McCoy was asked by the government of Alberta to chair a joint review committee (JRC) into whether or not right-to-work (RTW) legislation would be beneficial to the province. The committee was formed following a motion debated on March, and announced in April 1995.[12] It delivered its unanimous report in November of the same year. It received 225 written submissions from Albertans on the issue.[13] The JRC ultimately did not recommend RTW legislation for Alberta, as it found no evidence of economic advantage to it.[14][15]
McCoy was appointed to the Senate byGovernor GeneralAdrienne Clarkson, on the recommendation of Prime MinisterPaul Martin, on March 24, 2005.[16][17] She represented Alberta as a member of theCanadian Senators Group.[18]
Initially a member of the Progressive Conservative caucus, a rump caucus of Tory senators who had refused to join the newConservative Party of Canada in 2003, McCoy was ultimately the last Progressive Conservative in the chamber following the retirement of SenatorLowell Murray in 2011.[19] She changed her designation to Independent PC in 2013 and then to non-affiliated in 2016, following the decision by the government of Justin Trudeau to make the Senate a non-partisan institution and appoint independent senators. In September 2016, she and 14 other non-affiliated senators formed theIndependent Senators Group[20] to advocate for the rights of non-affiliated senators as the upper house was still organized around partisan lines resulting in non-affiliated senators being underrepresented on committees and not receiving the funding given to party caucuses. McCoy was elected facilitator of the new group for the 2016–2017 parliamentary term.[21][22] In December 2016, the Senate agreed to recognize the ISG and granted it funding, and also agreed that non-affiliated senators would be appointed to Senate committees in numbers proportionate to their numbers in the Senate.[23][24]
On November 4, 2019, she joined the Canadian Senators Group.[25]
After being appointed to the Senate, McCoy was an influential voice for the role of the individual senator,[26] for Senate reform,[27][28][29] for an inclusive federation and the role of Alberta in Canada. McCoy was one of the first members of the Senate of Canada to blog and tweet on her experiences in Ottawa and the political issues of the day.[8] A feature article on McCoy inMaclean's called her a "symbol of defiance" as one of only two Progressive Conservative senators then remaining in federal politics and someone who "defines herself as socially progressive and fiscally conservative".[8]
McCoy was married to Miles Patterson, a lawyer.[30] She died on December 29, 2020, inOttawa.[20]
A provincial committee headed up by former Conservative labour minister and Calgary MLA Elaine McCoy recommended the government not introduce right-to-work (RTW) legislation. "RTW legislation does not...create a competitive advantage," the committee's report states. "By itself, such legislation has little impact on wage and income levels...The rate of unemployment is unaffected by RTW legislation." As a result, union membership and dues will remain compulsory in Alberta's organized job-sites.
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| National | |
