The federal government has provided financing support of $131 billion through fiscal stimulus measures, which has helped credit conditions in Canada normalize towards pre-crisis levels, the government said on Monday.

In the government’s third report on the Economic Action Plan, it outlined the progress made on the stimulus measures so far. The government has now committed 90% of the 2009-10 stimulus funding, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday, presenting the report in Saint John, New Brunswick.

“In just over 100 days, Canada’s Economic Action Plan is already protecting Canadians, stimulating our economy and creating jobs from coast to coast to coast,” said the Prime Minister. “Our Economic Action Plan is helping create or maintain an estimated 220,000 Canadian jobs by the end of 2010.”

In terms of efforts to ease credit conditions, the government said it has provided $131 billion in extraordinary support to improve access to financing for Canadian households and businesses, all of it on a commercial basis. The Economic Action Plan had allocated up to $200 billion of support in this area.

This support has contributed “significantly” to improved credit conditions, the government said.

“Credit conditions in Canada continue to normalize towards pre-crisis levels,” the report said. “Total household credit growth remains strong and is showing signs of stabilization, after a deceleration from the cyclical peak observed around the start of the financial crisis.”

It noted that strong growth in consumer credit in Canada contrasts with the situation in other major economies such as the U.S., where credit growth has slowed markedly.

The government said there have also been several signs that business credit is normalizing. Spreads have narrowed significantly, leading to a resumption of activity in the bond market and providing businesses with a greater choice of whether to borrow on an intermediated basis through a financial institution, or non-intermediated basis by borrowing directly through financial markets, the report said.

As a result, net issuance of bonds by non-financial corporations rebounded to almost $22 billion in the first seven months of 2009 after a decline of about $2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the government.

Another positive development in recent months has been the shift from shorter-term to longer-term business credit, the report said.

It also noted that the Business Credit Availability Program, which was established to help businesses find financing to fund growth and maintain jobs, had made further progress in providing loans and other forms of credit support since June. As of the end of August, total activity under the program totalled $2.7 billion, which had assisted almost 6,000 businesses. Activity in this program is expected to continue to increase, the government noted.

But as credit conditions have improved, demand for certain stimulus financing measures has decreased, the report noted. For instance, lenders have not participated as aggressively in the Insured Mortgage Purchase Program.

In terms of progress in other types of stimulus, the report noted that federal infrastructure spending is now 89% committed, while more than $7.6 billion in federal funding towards over 4,700 provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure projects worth over $21 billion has also been committed.

In addition, almost 93% of the $2 billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program has been committed. Under this program, which supports research and advanced education by funding deferred maintenance, repair and construction projects at colleges and universities across Canada, 381 projects have begun, and a further 66 projects are set to start this year.

In terms of helping unemployed Canadians, the government noted that more Canadians are accessing EI benefits. Between October 2008 and September 2009, 82% of Canadian workers had easier access to EI benefits and for longer periods of time, according to the government.

As of September, more than 300,000 claimants had benefited from up to five extra weeks of benefits at a cost of $446 million. An extra five weeks of benefits represents up to an additional $2,235 in EI benefits for an unemployed worker.

Overall, total EI support is now expected to be $5.8 billion higher this year than last year, the government said.

Harper said the government has more work to do in terms of stimulating the economy. “We have made great progress, but there is more to be done,” said the Prime Minister. “Our Government remains focused on helping Canadians and is committed to staying on course to ensure our economic recovery.”

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