Exclusive: Canada's statistics agency publishes data early, then takes it down
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Walmart to pay millions after overcharging customers
Walmart will shell out $5.6 million to settle a civil lawsuit that claims the company overcharged its customers. The grocery giant — the largest retailer in the country — was accused by several California counties of ripping off its customers in those areas. The consumer protection lawsuit claimed that Walmart sold products that weighed less than was indicated on the packet. The items that were allegedly affected included fresh produce, baked goods and other packaged foods. The complaint also argued that Walmart was guilty of charging customers more than items were advertised for. 'When someone brings an item to the register to be scanned, the price must be right,' Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen (pictured) said following the settlement. 'They expect it. California expects it. My Office expects it — and we will apply the law to make sure of it.' Walmart will pay $5.6 million in civil penalties for violating California's False Advertising and Unfair Competition Laws, the County of Santa Clara said. The penalties paid by the company will not go directly to consumers, but will go to the Santa Clara County DA's Consumer Protection fund. In addition Walmart must also cover the cost of the investigations, adding $139,908.92 to its bill. The chain has also agreed to employ workers specifically to ensure weight and price accuracy in its 280 California stores. Walmart previously settled a similar lawsuit in California in 2012, forking out $2.1 million. Last year the mega retailer also shelled out $45 million to settle a class action suit brought by angry shoppers in Florida after they also claimed they were being overcharged. The settlement class included those who bought weighted goods or bagged citrus in person at a Walmart in the US or Puerto Rico between October 18, 2018 and January 19, 2024. Some individual customers could claim up to $500 as part of the settlement. In another similar lawsuit filed last year, plaintiffs argued that even though price discrepancies might be just a matter of a few cents each they 'add up to hundreds of millions of dollars each year.' Lawyers and other consumers said they found price discrepancies in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. Customers also found cost discrepancies in North Carolina — even after a regulator there fined Walmart in 2022 for price-scanning errors. Walmart recently introduced 'digital shelf labels' in thousands of stores across the country. It means the company can update — in minutes — the prices on the 120,000 items each store stocks. Weekly updates to paper shelf labels typically took a store worker about two days. Retail experts in the past have pointed out that such digital labels, and the speed that prices can be altered, could usher in an era of dynamic pricing.
Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The Wyoming ranch bigger than NYC that's up for sale for $22 million
By A stunning Wyoming ranch larger than all of New York City and the state of Delaware can be yours for $22 million. The Midland Ranch, which has remained in the same family since 1909, spans 1.15 million acres - making it more than five times larger than all five boroughs of the Big Apple. But that figure includes a lot of land leased by the Bureau of Land Management and the state of Wyoming, with LandVest Christie's International Real Estate only offering a deed for 5,880 acres, Cowboy State Daily reports. Leases for the other land may also be conveyed with the property, which is listed for $22 million if bought whole. Prospective buyers, though, could also consider purchasing one of five units, which range in price from $1 million to $9.9 million. The first three units are located near the Boulder area of southwest Wyoming and include the main summer pastures, as well as fisheries, expansive water rights, a rock-climbing mecca on Prospect Mountain and a potential home site along the Little Sandy River, according to Mansion Global. The fourth unit is further to the east, between Pinedale and Rock Spring. It comprises the largest portion of the ranch, including the land leased from the Bureau of Land Management for grazing and trailing. The final section includes the winter pastures and is located south of Rock Spring, just north of the border of Colorado and Utah. 'There are about a million places for a homesite on a property of this scale,' Court Merrigan, the broker for the property, told Mansion Global. 'The only question is what you want. Do you want a view of the Wind River Mountains? Do you want a house near the Big Sandy River? Do you want it near the reservoir?' As it stands currently, the ranch offers two seasonal residences in the Prospect Mountains for the summers. There are also functional buildings that serve as bunkhouses for ranch hands, as well as barns, shops and corrals made of weathered wood. A historic sheep-shearing shed also sits on the expansive property, which is currently owned by Pete and Sue Aramel, third-generation sheep and cattle ranchers whose ancestors came from the Basque region of France. 'They brought sheep-raising with them from the old country and they have kept up with it,' Merrigan said of their transhumance method of herding - which involves moving livestock more than 100 miles between summer and winter pasteures. 'Taken as a whole, that makes this a very unique operation,' he noted. 'There's few places left in the West that truly practice it.' In addition to the unique ranching opportunities the land provides, its miles of private river frontage along the Big Sandy River and Little Sandy Creek offers 'world-class' fishing, while the vast land offers plenty of hunting opportunities with herds of more than 15,000 antelope as well as herds of elk and deer. 'Trophy game is out there, just because of the scale this property has,' Merrigan said. 'And because of the way they have managed things with that transhumance, which flows in tandem with the natural ecosystem and the natural migration patterns of the animals that are out there.' Much of the land also serves as a remnant from the Wild West, with water rights for the property dating back to when Wyoming was still considered an American territory - though Merrigan noted that it has improved since then. 'Over generations, [the] family has augmented its water supply, creating an entirely self-sufficient ranch,' which is important as the southern portion gets 'much more arid,' he said. 'They have managed and handled that and engineered it - over the past, more than a century, so that it is just a beautiful system of wells that are easily within reach of all the livestock,' the broker said. 'It's an amazing oasis down along the river.' Large portions of both the Oregon and Mormon trails ran through the property, with Merrigan explaining that the land served an important role in the Oregon trail. 'This was kind of the parting of the ways,' he said. 'This was where you had to decide if you were going to Oregon, to Utah or to California.' It was also once part of the Outlaw Trail that was traversed by bandits like Butch Cassidy in the late 1800s. 'They chose that spot because it was pretty remote for one, and two, there's a live stream there with potable water,' Merrigan said. 'You can just drink straight from it. So it was a good place for them after whatever they were doin, running down a stagecoach or whatever it may have been back then,' he said of the outlaws that once roamed the land. The ranch, itself, first got its start around 1860, when several cabins served as a remount station for the Pony Express, America's early mail system. It was then homesteaded in the 1890s and settled by French Basque immigrant John Aramel in 1909. 'It's uniqueness in the landscape of the West, based on its scale and what the animals have done over the last generation, this is just a property that is truly unique,' Merrigan told Cowboy State. 'I know everyone always says that, but this is truly one-of-a-kind.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
US equity funds draw weekly inflows on rate cut hopes
Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. equity funds gained substantial inflows in the week through August 13 as investors reversed a selling stance on hopes of a potential Federal Reserve rate cut in September, while a U.S.-China tariff truce further lifted sentiment. Investors bought a net $8.77 billion worth of U.S. equity funds during the week, partially offsetting the $13.89 billion in outflows recorded the previous week, LSEG Lipper data showed. An interim nomination to the Federal Reserve Board last week and a softer consumer price report on Tuesday boosted expectations of a rate cut next month, although Thursday's higher-than-expected producer price inflation tempered some of that optimism. The large-cap equity funds segments saw a net $4.49 billion worth of purchases, a reversal from approximately $7 billion net sales the prior week. Investors also snapped up $296 million worth of small-cap funds while shedding mid-cap funds to the tune of $472 million. Among sectoral funds, the tech sector received $3.35 billion, the largest amount for a week in 4-1/2 years as Apple Inc (AAPL.O), opens new tab pledged new U.S. investments to avoid potential tariffs on iPhones. In contrast, the communication services and healthcare sectors saw $733 million and $557 million in net outflows respectively. U.S. bond funds drew a 17th straight weekly inflow, totaling $6.87 billion. General domestic taxable fixed income funds garnered a net$1.57 billion, the largest amount in six weeks. Short-to-intermediate investment-grade funds, and short-to-intermediate government and treasury funds also experienced a hefty $2.52 billion and $1.7 billion worth of net buying. Weekly investments in money market funds meanwhile cooled to a net $25.04 billion during the week from a massive $78.85 billion in the previous week.
