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Premier Jason Kenney is betting on Albertans being able to handle the truth. He figures it’s a pretty safe bet. You voted for him.

The provincial government’s books are in bad shape.

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Kenney wants to fix them. He is not afraid of scissors. His government will cut the dollars for overall program spending by 2.8% over four years.

The premier also wants to be clear.

There’s a hostile federal government who could monkey around with the pipeline and that would cost Alberta much-needed dollars. There could be a global downturn.

If that happens, well, Kenney was not elected to sugarcoat the situation.

“This may not be the end of spending restraint,” he says.

“If the world goes back into a serious recession or if the federal government makes it impossible for us to build a pipeline, we’re going to have to take another look at the province’s finances down the road.”

Kenney hopes his government doesn’t have to go there. But, if bad becomes worse, they will act.