Premier Alison Redford's Conservative caucus boarded a charter bus Wednesday, headed for the mountains - days before another deficit budget was set for release.

Tory MLAs boarded the bus and left not long after a press conference touting a new budget process.

"Bill 1 will be about getting better value for taxpayer's dollars, doing things better, [and] smarter," MLA and Treasury Board President Doug Horner said.

"Certainly we are going to be frugal."

A few hours later, the Tory caucus was in Jasper for a three day, two night retreat – at a cost of $70,000, funded by taxpayers.

Opposition leaders were quick to respond.

"There's absolutely no justification for this to be an expense that is covered by taxpayers," Leader of the Wildrose Danielle Smith said. "It should be covered by the PC Party,

"I'm pretty astonished."

"What the government is doing is disrespectful of Albertans," Liberal leader Raj Sherman said. "They are wasting hard earned taxpayer dollars."

However, Tory staff told CTV News retreats are not unusual – and have been held in Calgary or Edmonton in the past.

"Companies and organizations often hold off-site retreats," Spokesperson for the Premier's office Kim Misik said. "There is value in that you get away from distractions at the office, and you send a message to your team that this is important and we have important work to do."

About 25 PC candidates will join MLAs in Jasper on Thursday; they will reportedly pay for the trip themselves.

Bill 1, or the Results-Based Budgeting Act, will change the way the government approaches budgeting – with an annual review of about one third of government programs and services.

According to the province, the reviews would be led by the Treasury Board, using input from Albertans.

Results would be released each year, and would become a major factor in future budget decisions.

With files from Kevin Armstrong