Premier Kenney returns to Calgary after tour of U.S. and Atlantic Canada

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Premier Jason Kenney is back in the province after trying to sell Alberta oil in the U.S. last week.

Kenney spoke at the McDougall Centre Monday morning after a big policy announcement involving free trade.

READ MORE: Kenney tells business audience Alberta will drop more trade barriers

The premier also announced its government’s first provincial budget will be tabled on Oct. 24.

Kenney didn’t give specifics on whether cuts were coming to key departments like health care and education but said he won’t repeat the actions of the previous PC government.

“”This is not a replay of 1993 when there was 18 per cent cuts. As the McKinnon panel said, if we make some difficult decisions now we can avoid much, much more challenging decisions down the road. You’ll see in this budget, a credible path to balance that does not require spending reductions in the scale of the Klein government.”

On Saturday, Kenney proposed eliminating exemptions to a free-trade agreement between provinces to remove trade barriers. This would include exemptions for the energy sector, alcohol and the sale of public lands.

Kenney made the announcement while attending the Canadian Chamber of Commerce AGM in Saint John, NB where he talked about the importance of pipelines, especially following the attacks on the oil plant in Saudi Arabia.

“This is ridiculous. We as Canadians should find this situation completely intolerable. The Energy East pipeline represented the prospect of achieving the dream of energy independence.”

The premier also took shots at the federal government over the passing of Bill C-69.