The Applicant date as referred by all on this forum, and for CIC is the date that the file was received by CPC - Mississauga.
However, for NDVO (or any other Visa Office) specifically, the applicant date is the date when the file was transferred to them by CPC-M.
The MP inquiry refers to August date because according to the official processing times (as mentioned here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp), NDVO takes about 13 months
starting from the date when NDVO receives the application. Hence according to this, officially you are within the standard official times until September (13 months starting from August).