Alberta Next panel announced with legislature members, academics and business leaders

Premier Danielle Smith says she'll be spending the summer touring the province with business leaders, backbenchers and an academic to find ways to protect Alberta from what she calls federal mistreatment and overreach.

She says Ottawa is to blame for decades of lost investment and resource revenue and that Alberta can't be held back any longer.

The premier is to lead the Alberta Next panel, which also includes three United Conservative Party legislature members, Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, a retired judge and a physician.

Smith says following a summer of town halls across the province, the panel is to recommend ideas and policy proposals thatwould be put to Albertans in a referendum next year.

Smith has said a referendum on Alberta separation could happen, though she wouldn't initiate one herself.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says the premier is wasting time and money by rehashing former premier Jason Kenney's Fair Deal panel, which toured the province six years ago in search of ways Alberta could gain leverage over Ottawa.