Nigel Wright: OTTAWA - Forget the fact that the fall session of Parliament has been put off for a month: the federal Opposition is trying to hold the Conservative government's feet to the fire by holding a virtual daily question period. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Not surprisingly, the Senate scandal in particular, the $90,000 cheque former Harper chief of staff Nigel Wright gave to Mike Duffy to cover the senator's dubious expense claims figured prominently. With NDP MP Nathan Cullen left and Nycole Turmel right looking on, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair speaks with the media about the proroguation of parliament Monday September 16, 2013 in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld On Monday, the New Democrats kicked off their challenge to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet members to answer questions posed through social media. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

unemployment rate: WASHINGTON The gap in employment rates between Americas highest- and lowest-income families has stretched to its widest levels since officials began tracking the data a decade ago, according to an analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press, according to The Chronicle Herald. U.S. households with income of more than $150,000 a year have an unemployment rate of 3.2 per cent, a level traditionally defined as full employment. At the same time, middle-income workers are increasingly pushed into lower-wage jobs. Many of them in turn are displacing lower-skilled, low-income workers, who become unemployed or are forced to work fewer hours, the analysis shows and Rates of unemployment for the lowest-income families those earning less than $20,000 have topped 21 per cent, nearly matching the rate for all workers during the 1930s Great Depression. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

British Columbia Real Estate Association: Copyright 2013, according to Times Colonist and After staying out of the housing market for most of last year waiting for home prices to drop, homebuyers appear to be rushing back to lock in low mortgage rates, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association. The association recorded a 29-per-cent increase in home sales across the province in August with 6,863 transactions cleared through the Multiple Listing Service compared with 5,337 in the same month a year ago. The increase was driven by the big gains in Metro Vancouver, where sales were up 53 per cent and the Fraser Valley, where sales increased by 20 per cent. However, sales were also up 31 per cent on Vancouver Island, 20 per cent in Victoria and 15 per cent in the Okanagan Mainline real estate board, which includes the city of Kelowna. The provincial average price was also up 8.6 per cent to $533,400 in August compared with $491,145 in August 2012. Homebuyers were out in force during the summer months, association chief economist Cameron Muir said in a news release. Fear of a housing market hard landing has given way to a sense of urgency to lock in mortgages at low a low interest rate. The major banks have recently hiked posted rates for many of their fixed-term mortgages in the range of 20 basis points, or .2 of a percentage point. In late August, RBC lifted its five-year rate to 3.89 per cent, BMO and Scotiabank posted five-year rates of 3.79 per cent and CIBC 3.69 per cent. Those moves reflect the banks higher costs for raising mortgage funds on international bond markets, which put a squeeze on new buyers in the market, but Muir isnt expecting more dramatic changes over the next year. In the news release, he said the associations forecast is for that five-year rate to be about a half-a-percentage-point higher a year from now and expects that higher employment levels and better economic growth to offset the impact of higher rates. B.C.s sales numbers are in keeping with the national picture. The Canadian Real Estate Association has reported that August sales were up 11 per cent compared with August 2012 when Ottawa tightened mortgage lending rules. Sales improved more quickly than expected, the association said Monday, and the results have caused it to raise its forecast for home sales by the end of the year to 449,000 compared with the expectations it set in June for 443,000 sales. CREA reported 454,573 sales in 2012. The association says this is likely due to the transient influence of buyers with pre-approved financing making purchases before their lower pre-approved rates expire. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Premier Darrell Dexter: McNeil says the program would provide payroll incentives to businesses that provide a minimum of 12 months of employment and training to new university and college graduates, according to The Chronicle Herald. Premier Darrell Dexter says the NDP would implement a diabetes wellness plan aimed at preventing, screening, detecting and treating the disease and Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil says his party would spend an estimated $6.5 million annually on a graduate training program for businesses if he wins next months election. He says details of the program would be worked out with small business owners if the Liberals win the Oct. 8 vote. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Leader Darrell Dexter: On a day when he announced a New Democrat government would create 25 new long-term-care beds in Antigonish, Dexter said his party has proved during its four years in office they have the ideas and fiscal prudence to keep going, according to The Chronicle Herald. Those services include expanded dental care and insulin pumps for young people, initiatives to keep seniors in their homes longer and a recently announced plan to create new long-term-care beds, facilities and home-care services in the next few years and NDP Leader Darrell Dexter says he believes it will be one of the seminal questions in this election campaign : What party is best suited to deal with the continuing challenges facing health care? We took the money in the health-care envelope and used the ability to innovate in programs to supply much better services, he said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Lawrence Summers: NEW YORK - Stocks and bonds on major markets rose on Monday after former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers withdrew from consideration to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, leading investors to believe U.S. monetary policy might stay looser for longer, according to Reuters. Summers' surprise decision on Sunday came just ahead of the Fed's policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the U.S. central bank is expected to begin to scale back its asset purchases from the current pace of $85 billion a month and By Ryan Vlastelica Signs of progress in reducing tensions in the Middle East, after a Russia-brokered deal on Syria's chemical weapons also helped to support stocks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Politicians, students and researchers slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday for his governments cuts to scientific funding and muzzling of scientists, according to The Chronicle Herald. Dozens of students, professors and citizens turned out at the Stand Up for Science rally at Dalhousie University and The federal government has compromised the duty of the public to make informed decisions, said Halifax rally organizer and classics student Justin Singer. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Barack Obama: WASHINGTON - A potential federal shutdown looming, President Barack Obama on Monday warned congressional Republicans they could trigger national "economic chaos" if they demand a delay of his health care law as the price for supporting continued spending for federal operations. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. "Are some of these folks really so beholden to one extreme wing of their party that they're willing to tank the entire economy just because they can't get their way on this issue?" Obama said in a speech at the White House. "Are they really willing to hurt people just to score political points?" In this image from video pretaped at the White House in Washington Friday, Sept. 13, 2013, for Sunday morning's ABC's "This Week" President Barack Obama answers questions about Syria, and other pressing national and international issues during an interview with George Stephanopoulos. Trying to lay claim to an economic turnaround, Obama acknowledged that despite progress, middle and low-income Americans have not benefited as much as the top 1 percent in the country. "We came in, stabilized the situation," citing 42 months in a row of growth, 7 1/2 million jobs created and a revitalized auto industry. He said that when it comes to a crucial deadline to raise the nation's borrowing limit next month, he would not negotiate with Republicans. AP Photo/ABC News House Republican leaders were to meet Tuesday in hopes of finding a formula that would avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1 without alienating party conservatives who insist on votes to undercut the Affordable Care Act. Even more daunting is a mid- to late-October deadline for raising the nation's borrowing limit, which some Republicans also want to use as leverage against the Obama administration. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Pauline Marois: The plan has deeply divided the pro-independence movement. It clearly offends the core values of a significant and articulate segment of the partys base. It has scores of long-time sovereigntist activists wringing their hands in despair over potentially irreparable damage to their cause, according to The Star. Perhaps most remarkable is that all of the above was highly predictable. This is an adventure that Pauline Marois government embarked on with its eyes wide open and MONTR AL It is not necessary to wait for the dust to settle on the Parti Qu b coiss proposed values charter to know that it is the sovereigntist partys riskiest gamble. Regardless of the short-term political outcome of the operation, the PQ that will emerge from this identity-related venture will be a fragmented version of the one that entered it. It will be hard to put the pieces back together for another referendum bid. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Democratic Republic of Congo: They include those from Albania, Algeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Tunisia, according to The Star. Visitors from these countries must pay an extra $85 for Ottawa to collect their fingerprints and photos in their visa applications as part of Protecting Canadas Immigration System Act passed last year to tighten border entry to the country and Starting Oct. 23, travellers from 11 countries must submit their fingerprints and photos when applying for a Canadian visitor, student or work visa. Citizenship and Immigration Canada has released a country list, following the imposition of the biometrics requirement earlier this month on Colombia, Haiti and Jamaica. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.