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The Alberta government unveiled a blue-ribbon panel Tuesday to examine what Premier Jason Kenney described as a “critical fiscal situation.”

Kenney said the group of experts — including chair Janice MacKinnon, a former Saskatchewan finance minister, and vice-chair Mike Percy, a former Alberta Liberal MLA and University of Alberta professor emeritus — will provide advice on how to get the province out of a “debt hole.”

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“Under the recent government, total debt was barrelling towards $100 billion, fuelled by the second-highest per capita spending of any province in Canada,” Kenney said at a news conference.

In its 2018 budget, the then NDP government estimated debt would reach $96 billion by 2023. The numbers were laid out in the last provincial budget, tabled on March 22, 2018.

Kenney said last week his government will table a budget in the fall.

‘Fiscal discipline’

The panel will examine government spending however it won’t touch revenue numbers, such as taxes, said MacKinnon.