Industry stakeholders have said to us, which we've heard loud and clear, as we move forward on the climate change discussions we need to do it with a clear eye on the fact that we are also having conversations around royalties and the two can't be separated.

Bill is about moving forward on a long overdue provision to protect vulnerable paid farm workers in Alberta to the same degree that they are protected in every other province in the country, and we feel confident that once people see how the bill actually applies to the regular family farm, they will see that a lot of the concerns were perhaps misplaced. And it's unfortunate that we created a situation that made people worry; that was not ever our intention.

The climate change plan set out a few days ago by federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair will get us there, which is why I strongly support it.

I think Albertans are progressive and forward-looking and are very optimistic, and I think they've always embraced change. Now with the economy being the way it is, I think we need to acknowledge people are a bit nervous too.

We have endorsements of our plan from key leaders within the environmental movement. That doesn't mean that it includes the whole environmental movement.

Albertans were looking for change. And so I think that we're staying true to our principles by working to deliver on that change. And I think that is what people were looking for

Our government is operating within an unprecedented revenue shortfall and that we have an obligation to all citizens of the province to manage our finances responsibly. And that's what we're going to do.