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EDMONTON — The latest job numbers from Statistics Canada are disappointing, said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, but he’s expecting the situation will soon turn around.

The agency reported that Canada lost 71,200 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose four-tenths of a percentage point to 5.9 per cent.

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In Alberta, the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 per cent from 6.7 per cent. Jobs fell by 18,000, led by wholesale and retail trade.

In Edmonton, unemployment went up to 7.7 per cent from 7.1. In Calgary, it fell slightly from 7.2 per cent to 6.9.

“We’re always disturbed to hear about any job losses in the economy,” Kenney told reporters Friday.

“We took over an economy in Alberta here that I think was basically in recession and had gone through a four-year job crisis, and I always knew we were not going to be able to turn that around overnight.”

The United Conservative premier, elected in April, said the critical problem is bottlenecks in getting Alberta oil to market via pipeline or rail, forcing the province to dictate curtailment on production to keep the price from plummeting.