Two Wildrose MLAs have crossed the floor Nov. 24 to join the Alberta Progressive Conservative party.
MLAs Kerry Towle of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake and Ian Donovan of Little Bow joined Alberta premier Jim Prentice during a news conference to announce their defection.
Both MLAs said they felt they could serve their constituents from within the governing party. The PCs had struggled under former premier Alison Redford but have seemed to make a comeback with Prentice at the helm.
They won all four byelections and now have welcomed two more MLAs into their party. The PCs now have 63 of the 87 seats in the legislature. The Wildrose has 14 MLAs. Earlier in November, Wildrose MLA Joe Anglin left the party to sit as an independent.
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During the news conference Towle said the decision to change parties was “incredibly difficult.”
“But I felt I had done all that I could in the role that I was in. Over the last 10 days I’ve spent a lot of time chatting with my constituents and hearing from them that they wanted us to come together,” she said.
Donovan also said he had been hearing from constituents who were no longer happy with the Wildrose Party.
Prentice said he has admired the two MLAs from afar. They were not offered key posts to join the party, nor did they ask for any.
“Kerry Towle and Ian Donovan are both hard-working and dedicated conservative MLAs who entered politics for the right reasons: they are passionate about improving the lives of Albertans. Kerry and Ian are strong constituency representatives who will be effective members of the government caucus. I respect the work of both members and welcome them to our caucus,” said Prentice in a news release.
