Alberta premier promises to 'modernize' oil royalties by early January

The Alberta government will release its plan to "modernize" the province's energy royalty rates early in the new year, says Premier Rachel Notley.

Her government's plan, she said, will be based on advice from a review panel appointed earlier this fall.

"It's not complete," Notley said of the plan, which will roll out early in January. "[Panel members] are coming to us with advice. We've asked them questions. What they ultimately deliver will be released, along with our plan for how we're going to move forward with it."

"One thing Albertans can be sure of is that it will be very sensitive to the current economic situation and the current place of Alberta's energy industry," Notley said.

Notley made the comments Saturday following a state-of-the-party speech to cheering New Democrat supporters in a MacEwan University lecture theatre.

In her 20-minute speech, Notley recounted the highlights of the past year, which saw her win the leadership then lead the party to its first-ever victory at the polls.

The loudest applause came after the premier called her government's farm safety legislation, passed on Thursday after weeks of protest and furious debate, her "favourite bill" of the year.

"Bill 6 taught our government some very important lessons," she said.

She admitted the rollout of the bill "allowed" people to unnecessarily worry that the legislation would regulate how farm families work together or how neighbours help each other.

Late in the process, her government introduced an amendment intended to reassure farmers those fears were ungrounded, she said.

Alberta now a 'climate-change leader'

Notley also highlighted the government's climate-change plan, which includes provisions to put a price on carbon emissions and phase out coal-fired power plants.

""This province is now a climate-change leader," Notley said. "We put Alberta where it belongs. We're right back where Alberta should be.

"We are a province that doesn't just care about the environment, but we act on it."

Notley said the New Democrats committed during the spring election to protect public health care and public schools, to table balanced budgets that won't damage the economy and to create jobs and diversify the economy.

"We made those commitments and then we did something that seemed, apparently, to really, really surprise our friends in the opposition," she said. "We kept our promises."

She then called on supporters to continue the work to build the party's base across the province.

"We're not quite sure what we'll be facing in the next election," she said, making reference to the Wildrose Party.

"We must be the strong, open and engaged party that all progressive-minded Albertans can support and count on, in the face of opponents who will bring nothing to any debate but snarling anger, bad choices and wrong priorities. We must be the alternative. And so I need your help, to keep building this big, progressive tent that is our party."

She later spoke to reporters about the international climate-change agreement, signed Saturday in Paris, which calls countries to set hard targets for greenhouse gas reductions.

Asked how Canada can have targets when Alberta's plan has none, Notley said each province is free to draft its own plan to help meet overall national goals.

"Our plan reflects meaningful change with, I would suggest, what is an unprecedented level of governance and oversight and ambition," she said.