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EDMONTON — Premier Jason Kenney warned Albertans on Wednesday evening that his government’s budget was going to cut spending, part of the necessary work to reduce government expenditures and turn the economy around.

Thursday’s budget would see a nearly three per cent cut, he said.

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“It will be the most important Alberta budget in 25 years,” Kenney said in a televised suppertime address to the province. “Now, let’s be clear: this will not be an easy budget.”

In anticipation of Kenney’s address, the New Democrats and organized labour in the province went on the attack, painting the upcoming budget as an attack on essential services and vulnerable Albertans and trotting out well-worn lines about American-style health care.

But Kenney, and earlier in the day, Finance Minister Travis Toews, attempted to two-step on both sides of the issue. On one hand, cuts. On the other hand, they could be worse.