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The NDP government is flailing now, beset by the quadruple woes of low oil, huge spending promises, crippling inexperience, and the exhaustion that can overwhelm a new regime trying to do too much at the wrong time.

In the past week we’ve twice seen the kind of muddle and confusion that destroys confidence (such as it is) in a government.

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Premier Rachel Notley suggested to the Herald that if economic conditions warrant, she might reconsider her vow to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2018.

After that was reported, the premier’s office spent the better part of a day trying to convince other media she didn’t say or imply that.

Why the big deal? It was a perfectly reasonable thing to say when job losses already number scores of thousands.

We can only assume that interest groups got to Notley, just as they used to get to the Progressive Conservatives — although not at all the same groups, mind you.

This week, Finance Minister Joe Ceci told the Canadian Press that many of the government’s iconic, big-spending promises may not be funded immediately.