Former Alberta cabinet minister turned Independent senator Elaine McCoy dies Nancy Hartling, centre, stands with Senator Peter Harder and Senator Elaine McCoy before being sworn in during a ceremony in the Senate in Ottawa on November 15, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld December 29, 2020 - 7:39 PM OTTAWA - Sen. Elaine McCoy, who sat as an Independent from the day she was appointed to the upper chamber, has died. McCoy died Tuesday in Ottawa. She was 74. Born in Brandon, Man., McCoy began her career in politics in Alberta in the 1980s when she ran in the provincial riding of Calgary West to replace the retiring Peter Lougheed.