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On the verge of an election, Alberta’s finance minister has unveiled a promising economic outlook despite the volatile oil differential that hounded energy producers last fall.

“We’re on track to balance the budget by 2023, and will continue to have the best balance sheet in the country,” Finance Minister Joe Ceci told reporters Wednesday. “Pipeline bottlenecks remain a serious issue.”

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The third-quarter financials included an update on the province’s “path to balance,” hinting that the NDP won’t bring forward a budget ahead of the spring election.

Ceci said the deficit will be $1.9 billion less in 2018-19 than originally expected, predicting a $6.9-billion deficit instead of the original $8.8-billion shortfall.

“We’ve also been able to keep our spending below population plus inflation,” he said.

Premier Rachel Notley has promised an election between March 1 and May 31, and politicians are slated to return to the legislature for a throne speech March 18.