Alberta's finance minister tried to turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse yesterday in his first quarter fiscal update to the province's books.

Joe Ceci says Alberta's economy is in the middle of a recovery, “rocking and rolling,” and seeing job creation and a projected 3.7 per cent growth in the economy.

But that’s a fairytale. Let’s talk reality:

That much-touted 3.7 per cent growth won't even bring us out of last year's NDP hole. Last year Alberta’s economy contracted 3.8 per cent, and nearly that much again the year before.

Now about those jobs:

Yes, 48,500 were created in Alberta, ending June 2017. But of those jobs, nearly 42,000 were government jobs. That’s a whopping 86.5 per cent of all new jobs. Neat trick to skew the unemployment numbers.

And the deficit is larger than expected since the NDP budgeted for $55 per barrel of oil, while in reality it's been hovering below $48 for most of the year.

Then, buried in the fiscal update, are the debt servicing costs. It used to cost an enormous $1 billion to service Alberta’s ballooning $43.3 billion debt. Now, because of Joe Ceci’s fiscal mismanagement and several credit downgrades, it costs $1.4 billion.

That’s a lot of hospitals and schools.

The NDP are delusional. Any signs of life in the Alberta economy are in spite of the NDP and a testament to Albertan’s ingenuity and will to survive.

And what the NDP are calling a financial rebound is what normal people call a Ponzi scheme.