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It must have been difficult for Premier Rachel Notley to swallow the contents of the royalty review her NDP government ordered soon after coming to power in Alberta.

It must have been even tougher for her to stand before the cameras Friday and announce she was willing to accept its conclusions. It was a declaration that promised to bring her nothing but grief. Opponents would cackle in glee; allies would tremble in indignation. She deserves credit for honesty, a rare quality in politics.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Kelly McParland: Notley's royalty U-turn put Alberta's interests ahead of populist crusading, even if it hurt Back to video

[np_storybar title=”Alberta spares oilsands companies in new royalty regime based on revenues, not oil prices” link=”http://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/alberta-spares-oilsands-companies-in-new-royalty-regime-based-on-revenues-not-oil-prices?__lsa=aa2d-0bf7″]

Under Alberta’s new framework, oilsands companies will continue paying the government the same royalties they have paid before, but the province’s take is changing for other unconventional oil and gas producers. Even with oil prices hovering around US$30 per barrel, Notley said Alberta’s biggest challenge is not “Saudi Arabia’s desire to flood the market with cheap oil.”

“Our biggest challenge… is that our largest market is becoming our largest competitor,” she said, referring to the rapid development of oil and gas through fracking in the United States.[/np_storybar]