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 to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(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 Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

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 political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

(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 Selkirk College is a public college founded in 1966 with its main campus in Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. The college has student housing at its Castlegar and Nelson campuses. Students frequently struggle to find accommodation. The col ...

. He studied political science and philosophy at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, 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 Koote ...

, 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 squa ...

. 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 Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

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

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. 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 govern ...

Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh (; 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 Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of he ...

, 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 previo ...

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

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

candidate

Sandy Santori Sandy Santori (born 1954 or 1955) is a former Canadian 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) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2005 provincial election and served until 2024. She represented the electoral district of Kootenay West a ...

(' 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 (Canada), electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1988. This Riding (division), riding was created in 1914 from parts o ...

; she has served in the provincial cabinets of Premiers

John Horgan John Joseph Horgan (August 7, 1959 – November 12, 2024) was a Canadian politician and diplomat who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022 and the ambassador of Canada to Germany from 2023 to 2024. He led the Briti ...

and

David Eby David Robert Patrick Eby (; born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022. Eby is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) a ...

. 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 members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian ranchers Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia University of Victoria alumni Spouses of Canadian politicians