The Department of Foreign Affairs has bought more real estate than it’s sold in three of the past four years despite a promised campaign to get rid of foreign holdings. New land buys topped $178 million since 2011 amid a cabinet pledge to sell, sell, sell: “It’s a scramble”.

Local TV losses have more than doubled, according to the latest industry figures compiled by the CRTC. Local ad revenues fell 1 percent last year; national advertising revenues were down 5 percent: “Production in Canada cannot be solely based on private financing”.

Proponents are resigned to defeat of a Supreme Court bilingualism bill but predict the language requirement will be law some day. The 41st Parliament again failed to pass legislation that all Court appointees be fluent in English and French. The measure has been before the Commons since 2008: “I feel sad”.

A federal scheme to monitor travel plans of all international airline passengers may be delayed. Citizenship & Immigration Canada suggested the complex program announced as a security precaution in 2011 will not be in place as planned next year: “It is on the books”.

Cabinet has poorly managed the federal prison system, says the Auditor General. Researchers found the Correctional Service over-estimated its prison population, then over-estimated savings from prison closures, then over-crowded prisons in the Prairies and Ontario while B.C. penitentiaries were under-capacity: “The theme really is that planning was not adequate”.

Canadian groups are endorsing U.S. engineers’ response to Asian carp deemed a threat to Great Lakes ecosystems. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposes installation of new locks in Chicago and other measures to stem the spread of the aggressive carp: “The cost of doing nothing will trump the costs of preventing the invasion”.

Railway workers say they do “not trust” employers to comply with privacy laws if Canada requires installation of video and audio recorders in locomotive cabs. Executives of Teamsters Canada told the Commons transport committee they fear railway managers will use cameras to spy on employees: “Why can’t we cross that hurdle?”

A Conservative bill in the Senate would create a national day of observance for the collapse of South Vietnam. Some 60,000 Vietnamese fled to Canada after the communist takeover of their country: “April 30, 1975 marks a sad day”.

Statistics Canada must improve accessibility of its data after making it free of charge, recommends the nation’s chief auditor. The statistical agency removed all fees on self-serve information in 2012, but makes it hard on users to find figures they need, an audit concluded: “It’s very frustrating”.

Federally-insured mortgages for first-time homebuyers averaged more than a quarter-million dollars last year, according to Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. The federal agency said it considered the debts reasonable: “It’s almost a cultural attitude towards debt these days”.

The Department of National Defence is appealing to recruit more women while acknowledging military life is considered a “masculine” and “old-fashioned” career. The campaign follows evidence of uncommonly high rates of sexual assault in the military: “Perhaps the army did not choose the best moment for this campaign”.

An innocuous-sounding tax treaty should be withdrawn from Parliament pending deeper review over its reach and impact, say MPs. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act inserted into a 359-page omnibus budget bill requires that Canada Revenue collect data on dual citizens and report it to the I.R.S.: “It’s being pushed through”.

Canadians’ electricity bills vary by as much as 100 percent or more depending on their home city, according to a comparison of rates. Residential and industrial charges ran from about 6¢ per kilowatt hour in Winnipeg and Montréal to 12 cents or more in Toronto, Halifax and Charlottetown: “Is it coal or is it gas?”

Parliament should not enact any new aquaculture legislation without first consulting provinces, says a senior member of the Senate fisheries committee. Promoters complain fish farms are simultaneously regulated by the provinces and four separate federal departments: “I think it is going to be a long road”.

Canada Post warns employees’ pay and benefit cuts are “crucial” to its survival. However the Crown agency declined comment on bonuses paid to senior executives last year including its nineteen vice-presidents: “We do not have a bonus plan that is driven by an entitlement”.