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“The auditor has gone through our financial statements and gave an unqualified opinion that they represent materially the true facts of the province’s finances,” Doherty said.

NDP MLA Carla Beck faulted the government for its projected oil prices.

“There is a real concern about the planning that went into this budget,” Beck told reporters.

It’s a problem that could come up again. The province formulated the 2017-18 budget based on oil selling for around $56 a barrel. Since the release of the budget, oil prices have been sitting around $45/barrel.

Doherty said it’s frustrating to forecast the price of oil.

“If you look at budgets across the country that have oil forecasts in them, we’re all within two or three dollars of each other in our provincial budgets,” he said. “We all talk to the same private forecasters.”

Last fall, Doherty met with analysts in the potash and oil sector in Toronto. All were confident that oil would be between $55 and $60 US a barrel.

“They were all wrong,” Doherty said.

For every dollar that oil moves up or down in price annually, it means about $16 million to the provincial treasury, Doherty said.

“So if you’re down $10 or $11 for the entire year, you’re out $160 or $170 million or so,” he said. “It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where you want to spend taxpayers’ dollars when you’re basing your forecasts on private-sector forecasts that just get it wrong.”

Doherty is encouraged by activity in the oil patch.