Rachel Notley says she plans to hold her first caucus meeting on Saturday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Rachel Notley said she is still getting used to people calling her premier as she walked into the legislature office of Alberta's Lieutenant-Governor on Thursday morning.
The New Democrat Leader and Alberta's premier-designate said she was set to tell Lieutenant-Governor Donald Ethell that her party was ready to form a majority government, ending nearly 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule in the province.
"I'm very excited about having that conversation," Ms. Notley said. "I'm really optimist about all the great things that we're going to be able to do."
The premier-designate said she has received calls from Canada's other premiers, offering congratulations and advice.
She also said a number of conversations with energy leaders on Wednesday went "very well." Some in the oil and gas sector have been worried about her plans to raise corporate taxes by two percentage points, while also moving forward with a royalty review.
The New Democrats captured a majority of the province's seats on Tuesday, winning at least 53 of the 87 seats in the legislature. The Tories were reduced to third place.
Ms. Notley will meet with her caucus on Saturday for the first time in Edmonton. She expects to finalize cabinet plans after that meeting. But first her two-day-old administration is putting together a transition team to help Alberta's first NDP government take over the halls of power.
"We've got a great group of people who are scrambling to help out on this. We've got four people on one desk fighting over the computer and trying to figure out where to plug in the phone. We're at that level right now," she said.
Justin Giovannetti