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Alberta’s new provincial budget is entitled, “The Alberta Jobs Plan.”

That’s a misnomer.

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Spending and borrowing are much, much larger aspects of the budget than anything to do with job creation.

The government will invest just $250 million over the next two years to create new jobs.

But it will spend a total of $51 billion this year and will borrow $10.4 billion.

This is not an austerity budget.

It is a budget that makes no apologies for spending more, borrowing more and taxing more than any budget in the province’s history.

As promised, this is not a “slash and burn” document that would slash government services and burn public sector jobs.

However, it does slash a promise to keep a lid on borrowing — and for the first time in two decades will burn through billions of borrowed dollars to pay for the government’s day to day operations.

The budget should be called The Alberta Record Spending Plan or The Alberta Record Borrowing Plan. Or The Return to Borrowing to Keep the Lights On Plan.