Talking points: Better cattle farming and a real estate warning + MORE Oct 19th

OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada has downgraded the country’s growth outlook yet again as it released fresh projections Wednesday that pointed to dampened expectations for exports and real estate activity.
The central bank also held its trendsetting interest rate at its current low level of 0.5 per cent, which was widely expected.
The bank’s latest monetary policy report blamed exports as a main contributor for the lower forecast, following a weaker-than-anticipated performance and somewhat gloomier prospects for the future.
The report also predicted growth to take a hit from an expected decline in real estate sales activity, which it said will follow the federal government’s recently announced measures intended to stabilize the housing market.
On Wednesday, the bank provided an analysis of those measures, predicting they will lower the country’s level of real GDP by 0.3 per cent by the end of 2018.
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Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Mosul’s moment
The long-awaited battle to wrench Mosul, in northern Iraq, from the grips of Islamic State is finally under way. With U.S.-led coalition fighter jets streaking overhead, Iraqi government troops and Kurdish fighters this week rolled toward the city of 1.5 million, which functions as the extremist group’s stronghold in Iraq. It won’t be easy. The operation could take months and force hundreds of thousands to flee. Still, it’s a risk worth taking since it would deal a heavy blow to Islamic State and the twisted, blood-soaked ideology it preaches.
The world’s wealthiest tour group
Members of China’s so-called “billionaires club,” made up of leaders of 50 of the country’s biggest private sector companies, are touring Canada this week in an effort to lay the groundwork for future business dealings. It’s all part of a warming relationship between the two countries following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent trip to China, where he mused about a possible free trade agreement…

WASHINGTON – A claim from the final presidential debate and how it stacks up with the facts:
HILLARY CLINTON: “I don’t add a penny to the national debt.”
THE FACTS: Not true, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. It estimates her increased spending in areas such as infrastructure, more financial aid for college students and early childhood education would increase the national debt by $200 billion over 10 years. That is far less than their estimate for Donald Trump, whose proposals they predict would add $5.3 trillion over 10 years. But it’s also more than a penny.
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Contributed by Associated Press writer Christopher S. Rugaber.
EDITOR’S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
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Ottawa’s proposal seen eventually benefiting plays in infrastructure, retail and real estate