Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Kerry Towle said her decision earlier this week to leave the Wildrose Party and join the Progressive Conservative government wasn’t an easy one, but it was one she felt needed to be made.
“I just felt that some of the decisions being made were taking our party in a way that was not in line with what my constituents elected me to do,” she said, speaking at a news conference in Edmonton on Monday. “I felt that I had done all that I could in the role that I was in.”
Towle admitted the decision was one of the hardest she’s ever had to make, and made it only after extensive conversations with constituents and family members.
“My constituents were coming to me asking me to give this government and Mr. Prentice a chance, and felt that I could do more with them than against them,” she said. “I’ve listened to them (constituents), and I’ve made the decision, but it was incredibly difficult.”
Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan also made the switch, and with Towle, was welcomed by Premier Jim Prentice on Monday. Both, Prentice said, are individuals he’s “admired from a distance.”