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The much-anticipated MacKinnon report delving into the state of Alberta’s finances will be released publicly Tuesday, says the province.

Finance Minister Travis Toews and panel chair Janice MacKinnon are planning to hold a news conference in Calgary.

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In May, a panel of experts headed by former Saskatchewan finance minister MacKinnon was tasked with reviewing Alberta’s finances. Their final report is intended to inform a fall budget.

The province received the report Aug. 15 and said it would be released publicly after review.

Earlier this week, the government released first-quarter financials, and refused to provide any fiscal projections for Alberta’s coffers, even as it warns spending restraint is in the cards for the fall budget.

Premier Jason Kenney has repeatedly warned Albertans the books are worse than the former NDP government let on, but the update released Tuesday show revenues holding steady year-over-year, at $13.4 billion.

The end-of-year financials released in June showed that Alberta’s deficit was $2.1 billion less in 2018-19 than estimated in the last provincial budget, according to the latest government numbers.

The $6.7-billion deficit is significantly lower than in the budget laid out by the NDP in March 2018. It was the last budget tabled before the April provincial election that saw the UCP win a majority victory.

cclancy@postmedia.com

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