Canada's economic update given in Beijing

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the unusual move of releasing his mandated update on the economy Wednesday after stepping off a plane in Beijing.

Harper distributed the 168-page quarterly update on his minority Conservative government's economic stimulus package that $28 billion of what was allocated has now been committed, the Canwest News Service reported.

In the last update in September, Harper said roughly 90 percent of the funding was committed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.

As of December, Harper said the program had created or preserved more than 220,000 jobs, exceeding the target set in the January budget of 190,000 jobs, Canwest said.

Asked why Harper chose to pre-empt his finance minister's update, Harper referred to opposition Liberals' demands for the so-called report cards.

"It was a parliamentary resolution that insisted on a report in December," Harper said. "If you look at the schedule the timing didn't permit me to do this before or after this trip."

Harper has been traveling regularly in recent weeks and after his visit to China will visit South Korea before returning to Ottawa next week, the report said.