The Bank of Canada, noting a slightly weakened outlook for Canada’s economy, decided to leave its key lending rate sitting at one percent. That key rate has been one percent for over a year. At the same time the prime rate, used for computations on variable mortgages, will also stay at the three percent mark.

September real estate prices in Canada saw a 6.5 percent increase over the same month in 2010, but that increase is the smallest seen since January. The Canadian Real Estate Board, or CREA, just released its monthly report noting that the average price of a home, nationwide, for this September was $352,600.

Rumors have been tossed back and forth for a while now concerning the Calgary real estate market. After all, the global economic picture is less than rosy, including for those to our immediate south, the United States. But recent numbers have indicated that Canada’s real estate market is quite healthy.

The global economic situation is stirring up rumors of another recession. Despite this, those in the Calgary real estate market predict that this city is on the road to a recovery, both in sales volume and price. Comparing figures from this year to that of 2010, there is evidence that both are up.

Rumors have started about a potential bubble in Canada’s housing market. At least that is how Mike Brock, who is the editor of a pro-libertarian website called TheVolunteer.ca, sees things. Brock is of the belief that the Canadian real estate market is in no better shape than that of the United States. He refutes the arguments that the banking system in Canada is more secure and that its lending practices are tighter than south of the border.

Real estate prices in Calgary are seeing a modest increase when comparing this year to 2010. A survey conducted by Royal LePage Realty this past Wednesday also declared the city’s housing market to be balanced. Single family homes sales are up 12 percent over sales in 2010, while at the same time inventory numbers are up high enough to provide a good selection for prospective buyers.

Six of Canada’s provinces administer a hearing test shortly after a child’s birth. Alberta is not one of them. Isaac Filpula’s parents didn’t find out he was deaf until 15 months after that fact, despite the fact that the child was born with Down’s syndrome. Had the test been performed the parents would not have been left guessing for all that time.

Sometimes community associations can be a good thing, other times not so much. They are usually made up of volunteers, elected by their community and intended to represent the views and needs of that community. The problems come when those associations are at odds with what their communities want.

Since Calgary is badly in need of funding for sports and the arts, and that funding is not being covered by the GST, there is a new proposal in the works. Taking an idea that is practiced in cities across the United States, a group called Transformation Calgary came up with the idea to charge a one percent “penny tax” as sales tax to go towards those projects.

The successful Express Inc retail clothing stores are moving into Canada. Calgary will have three outlets of its own by the end of 2011, in Market Mall, Chinook Centre and Southcentre Mall.  The US branded store will have six stores in Canada by the end of this year and a total of 50 within five years.