When Finance Minister Nate Horner tabled Alberta’s provincial budget in the assembly on Thursday afternoon, he and every other government MLA should have been wearing a neck brace. And maybe two for Premier Danielle Smith.

This is a government suffering from brutal whiplash.

After spending the past two years promising Albertans she would not run a deficit budget, Smith has delivered one with a $5.2 billion cavity (on total spending of $79 billion).

To add insult to injury, the deficit could end up being a whopping $8.7 billion depending how things turn out with tariffs. Rubbing salt into the fiscal wound, the government is projecting continuing deficits for the next two years right up until the 2027 election.