It’s unclear whether we’ll see a third-quarter fiscal update before the Alberta government drops what’s sure to be a bad-news budget. It’s also possible we get a rumoured early election call that would knock both scenarios off the near-term agenda.

Either way, the government has some difficult decisions to make in the months ahead. The sooner they acknowledge that — and the sooner they give us an indication of what the plan is — the better.

So far, 2026 isn’t shaping up to be a year of much introspection for the Alberta government. Instead, assuming we don’t have a general election, we’ll be casting ballots in all sorts of referendums crafted around various grievances with what Ottawa is or isn’t doing.

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When the question arises of budgetary pressures in Alberta, we’re more likely to hear excuses about immigration, equalization or the lack of new pipelines.

The premier’s