Rachel Notley renews vow to raise Alberta's minimum wage

After a week behind closed doors,Alberta's premier-designate Rachel Notleyemerged Wednesday to say she is still committed to raising the provincial minimum wage.

"That is something typically addressed in the fall,"Notleysaid. "So we'll meet as a cabinet to discuss rolling out that process. But without question, that was in our platform and we intend to move forward on it."

During the election campaign,Notleypledged to raise Alberta's minimum wage from the current $10.20 to $15 within three years, which would take itfrom the lowest tothe highest in Canada.

She announced that she will work to get the job done, alongwith11 new cabinetmembers, when they aresworn in on Sunday on the legislature grounds.

Notleyquickly firmed upseveral importantdates at her firstnews conference in a week,touchingon key issues her new government will face. Shesaid her newcabinet will hold its first meetings in Calgary on May 27-28.

Othermembers ofthe NDP caucus will be sworn in asMLAson June 1.The legislature will meet to elect a speaker on June 11,Notleysaid, and aspeech from the throne will be delivered onJune 15.

She also spoke about controversial imagesthat haveplagued one of her MLAs since the May 5election.

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"I spoke with her about it today,"Notleysaid. "I indicated to her that I thought the images that she was part of were highly inappropriate. She agreed with me and she offered her very genuine apologyand I've accepted that apology."

Dreverhas been asked to come back with a plan to reach outto groups thatwork with vulnerable young women,Notleysaid,and help work toward strategies to curb violence against women.

Royalty review high on agenda

When asked about recent news reports whichwarnmore than 185,000 jobs could be lost this yearin the province's oilpatch, she said that isthe first topicher ministers will address.

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"I've asked that the state of the economy be the first thing that is brought to our cabinet for a briefing next week in Calgary," she said.

A royalty review will alsobe high on the agenda when the cabinet begins meeting.

"We've committed to a review," Notley said. "It will be thoughtful, well-informed, and all parties to it will have a clear understanding of what the process itself entails before it unfolds."

The government has a number of bills it plans to introduce this spring, shesaid, though she would not give details.

During the short spring sitting, thegovernment will ask the legislature to approve an interim supply bill to finance the operations of government.

A full budget will be tabled during a fall sitting of the legislature, she said.

Cabinet to meet outside Edmonton

Notley said the cabinet will regularly meet outside of Edmontonto give ministers a better chance to hear from all Albertans.

Thenew cabinet will be much smaller than the one led by outgoing premier Jim Prentice. The Tory cabinet appointed last fall had 19ministers.

But Notley said there are no plans to mergeministries, though some cabinet ministers will overseemore than one department.

"I'm very confident that when we announce who is in cabinet that people will see that it makes a good deal of sense," she said.

Notley was also askedabout recent aCBC News story thatexamined and exposedthehugesalaries paid to members of two arm's-length agencies:the Agriculture Financial Services Corporationand Alberta Innovates.

"We've indicated all along that agencies,boards and commissionsshould have beensubject to the sunshinelist," she said. "And it's been our position that they should have been all along. We'll be moving forward to make that a reality as soon as we can."

Former premier Alison Redford's government introduced the sunshine list in January 2014. It details the compensation given to all government employees who make more than $102,100 annually, but specifically excluded the salaries of employees at government-funded agencies, boards and commissions.

Notley said her new government will undertake a more complete review of agencies,boards andcommissions in the province, both their number andmakeup.

"We hope as well in that process to look at ensuring that we have some reasonability in terms of the pay scales that we see in those organizations," she said.