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Mason, who is also infrastructure minister, said a publicly available list of unapproved capital projects should be published by the end of the fall sitting.

Aside from the heavy lifting of passing Alberta’s first budget in 18 months, Mason said the government intends to introduce “five or six” pieces of legislation, including changes to the Fiscal Management Act.

Mason wouldn’t say how the NDP intends to amend the law, which limits the amount government can borrow for infrastructure and dictates how much resource revenues should be socked away for savings.

The government will also introduce a bill that proposes to expand the province’s salary sunshine list to all agencies, boards and commissions.

And when MLAs do return to the legislature, they can expect things to operate just a little bit differently — including morning sittings “to make the assembly more family-friendly,” Mason added.

Question Period will still take place at 1:50 p.m.

The Wildrose official Opposition will return to the legislature with one more in their caucus after Prasad Panda handily won the Calgary-Foothills byelection in September.

Leader Brian Jean said his MLAs will continue to hammer the government over its plans to take on more debt; earlier this year cabinet authorized an additional $6 billion of borrowing if necessary. Jean warned the province’s AAA credit rating could ultimately suffer.

If Alberta’s debt to GDP ratio grows beyond 15 per cent, the rating could be affected, he added.