Canada urges opposition to wait until next budget

OTTAWA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Embattled Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged opposition parties on Monday to wait at least until the minority Conservative government presents its budget in January before trying to defeat it.

Harper, facing a united effort by the opposition Liberal, New Democratic and Bloc Quebecois parties to unseat him, deflected questions in Parliament over whether he still had the confidence of the House of Commons.

"We should at least wait for the budget to determine the future of the government that has just been elected by the Canadian public," Harper told Parliament in French.

The Conservative government said over the weekend that they will present its next budget on Jan. 27, 2009, instead of in late February or early March when it is normally unveiled.

The opposition parties are pushing ahead with efforts to form a coalition government, saying the fiscal update plan presented by the Conservatives did not include the economic stimulus measures the country needed.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Writing by Allan Dowd, Editing by Frank McGurty)