EDMONTON — The provincial government this week reassured Albertans that a precise dollar figure for separating from Canada will be ready by the end of July, delivered with the same airtight reliability it brings to every municipal infrastructure estimate in the province's history.

"By next month, you'll have a real number," said a senior official, standing in front of a slide that read $? in 48-point font. "And it'll be just as accurate as the budget for the new interchange, the recreation centre expansion, and that water treatment plant that came in only slightly over four hundred per cent."

Pressed on what the figure would include, the official confirmed it would account for a new currency, a new central bank, a renegotiated pension, and a standalone military, but possibly not GST software, road signs, or "the boring stuff your town clerk usually flags three years too late."

Municipal leaders, who have spent decades watching provincial cost estimates arrive late and arrive larger, expressed cautious familiarity. "We've budgeted for sovereignty the way we budget for snow removal — confidently, annually, and with a line item that says 'TBD,'" said one rural councillor, declining to be named so as not to appear against either snow or sovereignty.

The Finance Minister noted the July figure would be a "living estimate," a term municipal staff recognized immediately as the phrase used right before a number doubles. Officials added that a contingency line had been included, set at the customary provincial rate of "whatever's left."

Albertans seeking a firmer answer were directed to wait until the end of July, then the end of the fiscal year, then a working group, then a stakeholder consultation, then, if all else failed, the eventual plaque.