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. She was named a cabinet minister responsible for consumer affairs and women’s issues before later being responsible for labour, human rights and the civil service. In 2005, then-prime minister Paul Martin appointed her to the Senate. She styled herself a Progressive Conservative even though that party in 2003 merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the modern Conservative Party of Canada. She wore the title as symbol of what she called her fiscal conservatism and more progressive social values. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a statement that McCoy was a …