In challenging economic times, good governments should bring stability and predictability to the markets.

Whatever else a government does, it should follow the first rule of medicine with regards to the economy: 'Do no harm.'

When questioned about the potentially harmful effects of her government's policies, NDP Premier Rachel Notley told the Edmonton Sun that "folks need to settle down a bit."

There is no silver bullet that governments can use to cure the economy through their own managerial genius, but there is a lot that governments can do to hurt the economy.

Already, Alberta's NDP government has brought forward an energy royalty review that is almost sure to hike royalty rates at a time when the industry is reeling from globally depressed oil prices.

This means that even when oil prices recover, Alberta will be poorly positioned to ride the next boom of investment relative to our primary competitors. Investors don't just put their money where they can make a profit. They put their money where they can make the most profit. That means that if Saskatchewan or North Dakota has a competitive royalty advantage over Alberta, investment dollars that would otherwise come here will find their way to our competitors.

Beyond this, the government has raised business and personal tax rates, while leaving in place several tax hikes on things like gasoline imposed by the Redford-Prentice government.

All of these tax hikes taken together are now only projected to net about one-third of the revenue that the NDP said they would during the election campaign. Taken together with massive new spending measures, this is only adding to Alberta's record $9.1 billion deficit.

In this same interview with the Edmonton Sun, Premier Notley left the door wide open to even further tax hikes beyond those that her party campaigned on, while her environment minister has openly mused about a new carbon tax and vehicle tax on Albertans.

With major royalty and tax hikes on job creators in Alberta and the very real threat of more to come, it's no wonder that Albertans are unsettled right now. But it's not the job of Albertans to "settle down" when the government tells them to do so. It's the job of the government to restore economic confidence and certainty.

To do that, the Wildrose Opposition is trying to provide constructive alternatives for the government.

The best thing that the government can do right now to restore confidence in our economy would be to close the door on any further tax hikes that they did not campaign on during the election. They can make clear that the royalty review is not an ideological crusade with pre-determined outcomes. They can begin to get government spending under control and bring it to a more sustainable level in line with the national average. They can put forward a credible plan to balance the budget after eight consecutive deficits.

Alberta's government hasn't passed a budget since Alison Redford was premier in the spring of 2014. The new government has been in power for 4 1/2 months and still hasn't put forward its own budget. MLAs have had a long enough summer break. We should be in the legislature right now passing one, which would go some way to providing direction and certainly.

I've met with business leaders from across the province and they are worried. They need their government to get back on the rails.

While my colleagues and I in the Wildrose Opposition are not in the majority of the legislature, we will be doing our best to work across the aisle and get this done.

Derek Fildebrandt is the MLA for Strathmore-Brooks and the Wildrose Shadow Minister of Finance