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Most finance ministers put on new shoes before releasing a budget. Joe Ceci popped on a virtual reality headset instead.

He probably should have donned some rose-coloured glasses.

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How else can one explain the provincial government touting its plan to return to balanced budgets in five years, banking on additional revenues that will begin flowing when — or, more appropriately, if — new pipelines are constructed in Canada?

“We’ve built (those pipeline revenues) into the budget because that’s what everybody believes will happen,” Ceci told reporters Tuesday in Edmonton at a pre-budget event.

Well, not everyone, if he talks to protesters, certain mayors and the premier of British Columbia.

But I hope Ceci is correct, because the entire province has a lot riding on this issue.

As the finance minister unveils his new budget Thursday, the fiscal blueprint is expected to show how the province will gradually transition from large annual deficits — below $9 billion next year, according to one source — to balancing the books by 2023-24.