Roy Edward Conroy (October 21, 1946 – June 26, 2020) was a Canadian politician who served as

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) for

Rossland-Trail Rossland-Trail was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia centred on the towns of Rossland and Trail, in the West Kootenay. The riding first appeared in the 1924 election as the result of a redistr ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

from 1991 to 2001. He was a member of the

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. As of 2017, it governs the province. It is the British Columbia provincial arm of the federal New Democrati ...

(BC NDP). Conroy was born in

Rossland, British Columbia Rossland is in the West Kootenay region of south central British Columbia. High in the Monashee Mountains, the city lies immediately east of the intersections of BC highways British Columbia Highway 3B, 3B and British Columbia Highway 22, 22. The f ...

and raised in Castlegar, where he attended

Stanley Humphries Secondary School Stanley Humphries Secondary, also known as "SHSS", is a public high school in Castlegar, British Columbia part of School District 20 Kootenay-Columbia School District No. 20 (Kootenay-Columbia) is a school district in southeastern British Colu ...

and

Selkirk College Campuses Selkirk College has eight campuses and learning centres across the West Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary Regional District, Kootenay Boundary regions: * Castlegar Campus * Grand Forks Campus * Kaslo Learning Centre * Nakusp Learning Cen ...

. He studied political science and philosophy at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

, then moved back to the

Kootenays The Kootenays or Kootenay ( ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people. Boundaries The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay ...

, briefly working at a pulp mill before getting hired by a saw mill to work on a

towboat A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a squar ...

. He also raised purebred cattle. He was elected trustee for School District 9 in 1986, at one point serving as the board's vice-chair. He was first elected to the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

in the 1991 provincial election, then won re-election in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. Under the ruling NDP, he served as government caucus chair from June 1996 to October 1997, then from March to November 2000. He also acted as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Minister of Transportation and Highways. Under

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh ( pa, ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ) (), (born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of ...

, Conroy served as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Minister Responsible for Rural Development between November 2000 and June 2001. He contested the newly constituted riding of

West Kootenay-Boundary West Kootenay-Boundary was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada from 2001 to 2009. The seat combined the Rossland/Trail/Castlegar area (the putative ''West Kootenay'' component) that had prev ...

in the 2001 provincial election; with the NDP deeply unpopular within the province, he lost to

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate

Sandy Santori Sandy Santori (born 1954 or 1955) is a Canadian former politician. Santori served as a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2005. He had previously served as the Mayor of Trail, British Columbia and in ...

. He had two children with former partner Gwen Jones, then married

Katrine Conroy Katrine Conroy (' Thor-Larsen; born 1957 or 1958) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2005 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Kootenay West as a member of t ...

(' Thor-Larsen) in 1981, with whom he had two more children. Katrine Conroy is the current MLA for the redistributed district of

Kootenay West Kootenay West was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1988. This riding was created in 1914 from parts of Kootenay riding. It was abolished in 1987 when ...

; she has served in the provincial cabinets of Premiers

John Horgan John Joseph Horgan (born August 7, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022, and also as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2014 to 2022. Horgan has been the ...

and

David Eby David Robert Patrick Eby (born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022, and has been serving as the leader of the British Columbia New De ...

. He died at the age of 73 on June 26, 2020, from complications from surgery after sustaining a broken hip.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conroy, Ed 1946 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Canadian legislators 21st-century Canadian legislators British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian ranchers Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia University of Victoria alumni Spouses of Canadian politicians