Joe Ceci promises job creation plan as oil and gas layoffs continue

Alberta's finance minister says he's concerned for the hundreds of people who lost their jobs this week in Calgary as energy companies cut their spending.

• Penn West Petroleum, ConocoPhillips Canada slash hundreds of jobs

ConocoPhillips Canada is shedding about 500 employees and Penn West Petroleum Ltd. is letting 400 people gothe companies announced earlier in the week.

Joe Ceci says the NDP government will bring forward a job creation strategy in next month's budget.

Opposition parties are pushing the government to unveil that plan sooner, but Ceci says it's not ready yet.

"We're really just trying to be sure we can deliver on all the things we said we'd deliver and I wish it could be sooner than October, but that's when we have telegraphed for a long time that's it's going to be and it's going to be then," he said.

On Monday Rachel Notley's NDP government predicted Alberta would end the year with a $5.9 billion deficit.

Nationally, figures confirmed on Tuesday that Canada's economy has technically entered a recession, shrinking for the first two quarters of 2015.

But projections show Alberta's GDP will be back on the upswing next year, making the recession short-lived for this province, Ceci says.

The NDP government's perceived handling of the economy will be tested in Wednesday's byelection in Calgary-Foothills.

NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth is trying to convince voters the ballooning deficit was inherited from the long-reigning Tory government.

"I would ask if people are concerned about it to make sure that they keep in mind that this is a story of a PC government that was revealed yesterday," he said.

The other candidates are Mark Taylor, running for the Alberta Party, Ali Bin Zahid for the Liberals, Prasad Panda for the Wildrose, Blair Houston for the PCs and Janet Keeping, leader ofthe Green Party.

This will be the third trip to the polls in less than a year for the residents of Calgary-Foothills.

Former premier Jim Prentice won it for the Tories last fall, and in the spring general election. But he immediately resigned the seat in the wake of the NDP's sweep to power.