OREANDA-NEWS. Voters in the Canadian province of Alberta yesterday elected a center-left government, ending 44 years of conservative rule and setting up potentially significant shifts in climate and energy policies.

The center-left National Democratic Party (NDP) appeared to win 40pc of the vote along with 54 seats in the 87-seat Legislative Assembly, replacing the Progressive Conservative Party, which had formed the government since 1971.

NDP leader Rachel Notley, who will be Alberta's new premier, signaled her party will move the province's energy and environmental policies in a new direction. "Change has finally come to Alberta," Notley said at a victory rally last night. The province must develop a diversified economy so "we need to end the boom-and-bust roller coaster that we have been on for too long," she said.

Notley said she would work with other provincial leaders across Canada on a national approach to environmental and energy policy to "build bridges and open markets instead of having a black eye" that Canada has long suffered.

The NDP's platform calls for a review of the province's royalties on fossil fuel production, phasing out of coal-fired power production, and expanding the use of renewables – including in the oil patch. It also calls for ending the province's funding for carbon capture and sequestration in order to put those funds into public transit.

During the campaign, Notley said she would not actively support oil pipeline projects that she thinks are unlikely to be built, which include Transcanada's Keystone XL and Enbridge's Northern Gateway projects. But she said she would push for Transcanada's Energy East to Quebec and Kinder Morgan's Transmountain pipelines to British Columbia.

The province's now-former Progressive Conservative premier, Jim Prentice, resigned his seat in the legislature shortly after winning re-election last night. Prentice called yesterday's election a year earlier than required, hoping to win a quick mandate for the party's new budget following the crash in global oil prices last year. His party now holds just 10 seats in the parliament, down from 70. The party won a 28pc share of the provincial vote.

The province's official opposition party will be Wildrose, which will have 21 seats after getting just 24pc of the vote.