TORONTO - Ontario's finance minister tried to reassure the province Thursday that the government will be able to manage ongoing economic uncertainty, telling a business audience that next week's economic statement won't abandon businesses or the poor.

"We have to respond to the realities that we're in today -- recognizing that much of what we've undertaken will over time help the economy -- but we have to match much of what we hope to achieve with the resources we have to do it," Dwight Duncan said after a speech at the Canadian Club of Toronto.

"We may have to delay things over time but we will still keep our focus and continue to move forward in the areas of priority for the government."

Duncan, who is set to deliver his fall economic statement next Wednesday, didn't reveal any details in his address, but emphasized the need to adapt to a changing economy.

"The world's reality has changed in the last few weeks and so has Ontario's," he said.

"These challenges are real, present and directly affecting our families and businesses."

Duncan has already warned the province could fall into deficit amid a worsening global financial crisis, while Premier Dalton McGuinty has said belt-tightening is likely in store for Canada's most populous province.

But Duncan said Thursday that doesn't mean the government will ignore its election promise to fight poverty.

"We can no more abandon our efforts to reduce poverty than we should abandon working with our businesses to increase productivity," he said.

His approach appeared to not rule anything out -- suggesting the province must be prudent and not spend its way out of trouble, while simultaneously sticking to its promises and showing restraint.

Greg Inwood, a politics professor at Ryerson University, said that by presenting such an all-encompassing approach, McGuinty's Liberals are "doing the only thing that they can do."

"If you are the leadership of a provincial government, to some extent your hands are tied because you don't have your hands on all of the fiscal tools that might actually be needed to affect events as they unfold," Inwood said.

"But one of the important things that they can do, of course, is try to signal confidence and signal that they can affect issues in a positive sense."

Inwood said he isn't expecting any "radical propositions" in the fall statement, noting its relevance will depend in part on what the federal government plans to do in its recently announced six-point economic plan.

That plan, announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper the day after he was re-elected, includes a first ministers meeting and a speedy fall economic update.

Duncan said he hadn't spoken with federal finance minister Jim Flaherty since he was re-elected Tuesday, and wasn't sure what to expect.

"What we've heard from them has evolved over the last couple of weeks," Duncan said.

"I'll keep an open mind and continue to try to work with them."

But he said the federal government will have to be more flexible in dealing with the Ontario economy.

"This notion that tax cuts and deregulation is the panacea for all that troubles us just hasn't worked," he said.