Alberta's legislature will now have all-party committees, a move promised by Premier Ed Stelmach when he was running to be leader of the Conservative party.

Liberal house leader Laurie Blakeman said Wednesday that the new all-party committees will mean that policy ideas will be debated in the open, if the plan works properly.

Most committees meet behind closed doors, she said.

"Our protest on this has always been that they are funded by the taxpayers and should have been open to all members of the assembly."

Early in the Ralph Klein years, the government set up what it called standing policy committees that included only Conservative members. Alberta was the first government in Canada to make the move.

The change also means a bit more money for opposition MLAs who are assigned to committees.