Addressing reporters in what’s expected to be the decisive battleground of Calgary, where the NDP is headquartering its efforts, Notley said she would consult Albertans on what to do with the rainy-day, $18.6-billion Alberta Heritage Trust Fund, among a raft of recommendations in a report authored by former ATB chief economist Todd Hirsch.

The NDP leader said her party would operate in the black, though there was no mention of creating a provincial sales tax (PST), widely seen as political kryptonite ahead of a provincial election scheduled for May 29.

“I want to be clear that Albertans can expect a balanced budget,” said Notley, adding the blueprint would end boom-and-bust budgeting chaos.

“For too long Albertans have been on a resource revenue roller-coaster. Governments have spent resource revenues as fast as it came in only to drastically pull back spending when prices went down. It’s time to get Alberta off that roller-coaster, and this report provides the path on how we can get there.”

The report produced from consulting 37 different stakeholder groups and individuals also states her government wouldn’t exceed a debt-to-GDP ratio of 30 per cent, a figure currently at 9.9 per cent.

She said that ratio would only be a worst-case scenario, even if it would still be lower than that of many countries.

The blueprint’s most important concept is fixing the amount of resource revenues earmarked for budgeting purposes, a move that would “completely detach the government from the volatility of oil prices,” said University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.

“I think Hirsch has done an excellent job . . . it could easily be adapted to any political party. It’s just a hard-headed look at the finances of the province.”

He said the approach shows there’s no need to implement a PST.

When the NDP took power in 2015, Alberta’s debt was $11.9 billion, a number that soared to $85.9 billion by the time the party was voted out in 2019 during a time of low energy prices.

Much of the UCP attacks on the NDP have centred on the party’s alleged economic mismanagement during its last tenure that they say drove up the debt, drove away businesses, raised taxes and cost 183,000 jobs.