Sylvie Roy: Quebec's tenacious, mercurial conservative
Independent MNA remembered as relentless advocate for Charbonneau corruption inquiry
On April 7, 2009, Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Sylvie Roy stood up ask Premier Jean Charest a question.
"I would like, today, to communicate our worries, as well as those of all Quebecers, vis-à-vis the problems in the construction industry," Roy said.
"I am appealing to the premier's leadership to shed light on these serious issues. I am demanding that a commission of inquiry be held."
It took almost three years — during which time Roy hounded the government almost daily — but Charest eventually relented. In October of 2011 he announced the province would hold a public inquiry.
That inquiry, which came to be known as the Charbonneau commission, exposed widespread corruption in Quebec's construction industry and raised questions about political financing in the province.
Roy died suddenly on Sunday of acute hepatitis. She was 51.
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No compromise on integrity
"Jean Charest was fed up from hearing her, day after day, demand a commission of inquiry. And in the end she was right," said François Legault, Roy's party leader at the time.
"For her, there was no compromising on integrity."
Few outside a close-knit circle of family and friends knew that Roy had spent the past several weeks in a Quebec City hospital. Quebec's political class was shocked by the news of her death.
They remembered Roy as a fiercely tenacious MNA, someone who was unwilling to drop an issue until she got what she wanted.
"I had 20 MNAs, and she was probably the one who came to my office the most often," said Legault. "She had an opinion about everything — a real fighter."
That tenacity may have been the cause of her break from Legault and the CAQ. She left the party to sit as an independent in 2015, complaining that Legault didn't appreciate her political skills.
'Human drama'
Or so went the polite version of events. To say the split was acrimonious would be an understatement.
She accused the party of threatening to tarnish her reputation: "When you went to kill your dog, you say it has rabies."
Legault replied that he believed she was "suffering" and undergoing a "human drama."
A member of Legault's inner circle posted an allegation on social media that Roy was an alcoholic, only to delete the message shortly thereafter.
"Ask anyone on the Hill: at our parties, the cinq-à-septs, meetings with party members, Christmas suppers, end-of-session suppers, caucus suppers, I never have any alcohol," Roy said at an August 2015 news conference.
Small-town mayor to provincial MNA
Born in 1964, Roy spent the first part of her career working as a lawyer before becoming mayor, in 1999, of Sainte-Sophie-de-Lévrard, a small town 60 kilometres northeast of Trois-Rivières.
In 2003, she approached the Action démocratique du Québec — the CAQ's forerunner — about making the jump to provincial politics. ADQ Leader Mario Dumont was impressed by her CV.
She ended up being one of the lone bright spots for the party in what was otherwise a dismal election.
"It wasn't a riding where we had the best chance, but by the last week of the campaign I became convinced she was going to win," Dumont, now a political pundit, said Monday.
"She was never beaten. She was elected there five times in a row."
After Dumont stepped down following another dismal election showing, Roy served as the party's interim leader for several months in 2009.
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She stood out as a conservative in a province that often thinks of itself as progressive.
Roy was one of only a few MNAs to come out publicly against the provincial gun registry. And for years she advocated a stiff law-and-order agenda as her party's justice and public security critic.
"Quebec will remember that she was the first to ask for a commission of inquiry in the construction industry," said Dumont.
"But more generally, the public will remember that she was the archetype of what we want in an MNA. She was determined, didn't give up easily. She took care of her riding but also took on the big issues."
Roy leaves two children, Michel and Estelle, as well as her mother Monique Jacob and her sister, Nathalie. Her funeral will be held at 4 p.m. on Monday at the Assomption cathedral in Trois-Rivières.
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