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Sylvie Roy, second opposition leader at the legislature, speaks to members of the media before attending question period at the Quebec legislature in October 2009. Roy died Sunday at the age of 51.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Sylvie Roy, the member of the Quebec National Assembly whose dogged questioning forced the province's corruption into the spotlight of a public inquiry, has died after a brief hospitalization.

Ms. Roy, 51, died Sunday afternoon at Quebec City's Enfant-Jésus hospital from acute viral hepatitis that may have arisen from an infection she contracted while travelling in Africa, according to her friend and political staffer Éric Vachon.

A statement from Ms. Roy's office said her condition "had deteriorated steadily" after she was admitted to hospital in June.

First elected in 2003, Ms. Roy rose to prominence as a member of Mario Dumont's Action Démocratique du Québec when she hammered the government of premier Jean Charest on a near daily basis, saying it failed to respond to allegations of corruption in Quebec politics and the construction industry.

Her biting critiques continued from 2004 until the fall of 2011, when Mr. Charest called a public inquiry under Justice France Charbonneau. In The Globe and Mail alone, Ms. Roy was cited more than two dozen times demanding an inquiry and she was a daily presence in Question Period and across Quebec airwaves. An inquiry was the only way to "make sure taxpayer money isn't being hijacked," she said in 2009.

The inquiry eventually confirmed years of allegations that organized crime had infiltrated the construction industry and seeped into political financing and systems of bribery in the province, particularly at the municipal level. It led to a crackdown on political financing, the creation and expansion of several watchdog agencies and reforms to how public contracts are awarded in the province.

Tributes poured in from all sides of the National Assembly and from Ottawa after Ms. Roy's death. "One of our strongest voices against corruption has died," said Jean-François Lisée, a Parti Québécois MNA and PQ leadership hopeful. "Thanks for everything, Sylvie Roy."

Jason Kenney, the Conservative MP, former cabinet minister and Alberta Conservative leadership candidate, lamented the loss of a "formidable woman."

Mr. Dumont, Ms. Roy's leader in the ADQ, described her as a woman who was as comfortable discussing world events and the latest essay in Le Figaro as she was discussing provincial agriculture issues or meeting people on the street.

Ms. Roy, who represented a mostly rural riding surrounding Victoriaville in central Quebec and is the mother of a teenaged boy and girl, had a more tumultuous political life in recent years. She sat as an independent since 2015, when she split with the party that replaced the ADQ, the Coalition Avenir Québec, and its leader, François Legault.

Ms. Roy said she was unhappy with Mr. Legault's leadership, saying he ignored the issues she tried to press. Mr. Legault replied that Ms. Roy had been an absentee MNA and had behavior problems, and members of his team implied that she had an alcohol problem, which she denied.

Ms. Roy, who was long known as an energetic and combative opposition member, fired back in the unseemly war of words. "When you want to shoot your dog you say it has rabies," Ms. Roy said, accusing Mr. Legault of trying to intimidate her.

But Mr. Legault had nothing but praise after learning of Ms. Roy's death. "Sylvie Roy was always a fighter. She was passionate, close to the people, and the pursuit of integrity was tattooed on her heart," Mr. Legault said.

Ms. Roy's funeral will be held Monday in Trois-Rivières, Que.

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