Premier Jason Kenney asked Albertans who are unhappy with the recently released provincial budget to be patient in his first "State of the Province" address on Tuesday.

Speaking to a crowd at a Chamber of Commerce event in Edmonton, Kenney touched on federal election results, the Trans Mountain pipeline, national unity, the carbon tax and the budget.

Kenney painted a picture of a province under attack with the federal Liberals' minority government win, calling it a "significant" threat to the Alberta economy.

"In particular, a federal government that recently campaigned on an agenda that is on so many levels hostile to the vital economic interests of Alberta," Kenney said. "We are 12 per cent of Canada's population, and yet in the last 10 years, we have represented 25 per cent of new investment in the Canadian economy."

He renewed his attacks on the country's equalization program, saying other provinces are getting increasingly larger transfers off the backs of Albertans while refusing to develop their own resources.

"If we do not get reform of equalization, such as lifting the cap on the fiscal stabilization program, and if we do not get coastal pipelines like Trans Mountain built, we will give Albertans opportunity to trigger negotiations on a constitutional amendment," Kenney said.

'IRRESPONSIBLE' TO IGNORE FISCAL CRISIS

The other significant threat to the economy is a looming global economic recession, Kenney said.

In the last four years, the provincial debt has ballooned to $63 billion as the province spins its wheels trying to get oil to market.

"How exposed will we be to policy shocks emanating from Ottawa or economic uncertainty emanating from the global economy if we don't take action now?" he asked. "That is why I submit it is completely irresponsible to suggest a policy of ignoring the fiscal crisis that this province finds itself in."

He pointed to his government's controversial provincial budget, which slashed funding to the public sector and post-secondary schools, saying the cuts were necessary to dig the province out of debt by 2023.

"The whole theme of this budget is to reach out to public servants," Kenney said. "Challenge them to work with us, to identify new and smart ways of delivering public services more efficiently because surely, in 'get-er-done' entrepreneurial Alberta, we can deliver programs at least as efficiently as they do in British Columbia and Ontario."

His speech was followed by a finance ministry news release announcing that public sector wage arbitration will continue after Oct. 31.

The government previously delayed arbitration, which critics called a stalling tactic preceding wage cuts.

GOVERNMENT JOBS TO BE CUT?

When it comes to Edmonton, Kenney said the capital city has fared relatively well in the downturn due to its diversified economy.

However, he said government positions will likely have to be eliminated as the city's economy is more dependent on provincial spending than other parts of the province.

"Almost all of that will occur through attrition in the most thoughtful way possible," he said.

The premier said doom-and-gloom analyses of the budget are overblown, and that the cuts only amount to a 2.8 per cent spending reduction over four years.

He also touted new measures like the job creation tax cut, which he said will introduce the lowest tax rate on new business investment in Canada.