She succeeded Peter Lougheed in the riding, whom she had previously campaigned with and who had suggested she run in the constituency after he retired.

[3] McCoy expected to be a backbencher, as she was not well-connected within the party, and was surprised to be immediately appointed to the Executive Council of Alberta.

She set up an Alberta Human Rights Commission inquiry into the Aryan Nations which was responsible for investigating and eliminating supremacist activity in the province.

[7] When Getty retired in 1992, McCoy ran in the 1992 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election to succeed him.

[11] In 1995, McCoy was asked by the government of Alberta to chair a joint review committee (JRC) into whether or not right-to-work (RTW) legislation would be beneficial to the province.

[13] The JRC ultimately did not recommend RTW legislation for Alberta, as it found no evidence of economic advantage to it.

[14][15] McCoy was appointed to the Senate by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin, on March 24, 2005.

McCoy was one of the first members of the Senate of Canada to blog and tweet on her experiences in Ottawa and the political issues of the day.