EDMONTON - The crisis inside the Wildrose party grew deeper Monday as two MLAs crossed the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives.

Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan and Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Kerry Towle said a change in the opposition party’s “direction,” concerns about Danielle Smith’s leadership and urging from their constituents pushed them to join the governing party.

Their departure is the latest blow to the Wildrose, which lost four October byelections and saw the noisy exit of MLA Joe Anglin to sit as an Independent. Party delegates also recently made headlines when they rejected an equity policy protecting specific minority groups, including lesbian, gay and transgender Albertans — a crucial issue for a party that lost the 2012 election in part due to an anti-gay blog post that suggested homosexuals will burn forever in a “lake of fire.”

“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, and that would cause me great concern,” Towle said Monday. “I didn’t think I could do anything to fix that path.

“We are a party of free votes; however, our membership was deciding how I, as an MLA, was expected to vote. That caused me great conflict,” Towle said, adding “the continued fraction on the direction of our leadership” also came in to play.

Donovan said he was impressed with Premier Jim Prentice’s leadership.

“As a team player, I respect Danielle Smith to the utmost, but it is hard to follow someone when they say they’re not sure they’re going to lead the team if they do not win the next game,” Donovan said, referring to Smith’s pledge last week to step down if the party does not form a government after the 2016 provincial election.

“I’m a social conservative, my riding is, my constituents are — it’s not a stretch for me to represent my constituents,” Donovan said.

In a brief statement, Smith said Wildrose MLAs Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth crossed to the opposition benches from the Tory caucus in 2010 out of principle.

“Today we saw the opposite,” she said, referring to the departure of Towle and Donovan.

She said the Wildrose remains committed to its policies of balanced budgets, no debt, decentralized health care and free votes.

“Until today, these were the principles my former colleagues espoused as well. They were the principles they were elected to stand on,” Smith said. “Now, they will have to answer for their actions, both in their constituencies and in the legislature.”

Smith’s statement lasted less than two minutes. She took no questions.

Observers called it a “devastating blow” for Smith and a coup for Prentice.

“It’s not just that they’re losing MLAs. It’s who they’re losing,” Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said. “They had given Kerry Towle quite a profile. She was one of the strongest advocates. She’s the one who’s really responsible for saving the Michener Centre.