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Liberal cabinet minister Bob Chiarelli acknowledged Thursday that public sector job cuts are “probably” necessary to eliminate Ontario’s $12-billion budget deficit.

Minutes later, his Progressive Conservative rival, Randall Denley, conceded that “nobody knows” how many jobs his party’s much-ballyhooed Million Jobs Plan will actually generate.

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The twin admissions came during a fractious debate on Rogers TV among the four candidates seeking election in the provincial riding of Ottawa West-Nepean.

The contest is one of the most intense in the province. At one point Thursday, Denley declared that he needs to win the seat if the Tories hope to form a majority government.

Debate was particularly heated over two key issues: the high cost of electricity and the Conservative plan to eliminate 100,000 public sector jobs over the next four years.

Chiarelli called the Conservative cuts “scary.” In order to balance the provincial books in two years rather than three, he said, the Tories would do “irreparable damage to the economy. There’s a risk of us going into recession.