Article content

Premier Rachel Notley is defending plans to hike provincial spending by nearly three per cent in the upcoming budget as the NDP government pledges it will slowly decrease expenditures to eventually balance Alberta’s books.

The government is already projecting a shortfall of more than $10 billion in the budget that will be released April 14.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Notley defends spending hike in upcoming budget Back to video

Notley and Finance Minister Joe Ceci — who were in Grande Prairie for pre-budget consultations — reiterated Thursday the government intends to increase spending in the budget by the rate of inflation plus population growth, which works out to about 2.8 per cent.

Notley told reporters that with the economy “going through the single biggest shock it’s probably experienced in several decades” because of low oil prices, now is not the time to throttle back spending further.

She said the government is instead taking a “predictable” and “stable” approach to spending.