By Promit Mukherjee
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Statistics Canada posted market-sensitive information about June manufacturing data on its website ahead of the scheduled release date on Friday, the agency’s website showed on Thursday.
When Reuters asked why the data was visible, the agency took down the page immediately, indicating an error had occurred.
“Statistics Canada takes this incident very seriously. We are conducting a thorough review and will determine whether additional safeguards are required to prevent a recurrence,” said agency spokeswoman Maryse Carriere.
A page from the monthly survey of manufacturing was visible on the agency’s website early Thursday. The data was also accompanied by the previous month’s revision.
Carriere said StatsCan would proceed with plans to release the data on August 15 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time (1330 GMT).
The office of Industry Minister Melanie Joly, which has ultimate responsibility for the agency, was not immediately available for comment.
Leaks of sensitive data are highly unusual in Canada. StatsCan takes a series of precautions to ensure figures remain under wraps.
In May 2020, the agency launched an inquiry after employment data for April was leaked to Bloomberg half an hour ahead of the scheduled release time.
The probe found no evidence that the data, which was routinely shared with a small group of senior officials ahead of time, had been leaked by agency personnel.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by David Ljunggren and Richard Chang)
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