By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Statistics Canada said on Thursday
it planned to temporarily delay the publication of economic data
from media lock-ups because of recent delays in updating the
federal agency's website.
Statscan, which releases data precisely at 8:30 a.m. EST
(1330 GMT), said starting Friday Feb. 5, for the time being it
would not open communications channels from the media lock-up
until the daily release had been published on the website.
Statscan announced similar plans in 2012 but backed down
after Reuters and other news organizations who report on the
data to financial clients complained it would be disruptive.
Many banks and trading organizations use sophisticated
programs that can execute trades in less than a second after
data are released.
Gabrielle Beaudoin, director general of the communications
division at Statscan, said the agency had a duty to publish
information for all users at the same time. In recent weeks, the
release had hit the website a few seconds late, she said.
"Our mandate is not to support the financial markets. Our
mandate is to produce quality information for Canadians ... we
have to be equitable to everyone in Canada," she said in a phone
interview.
Beaudoin said that once the technical problems had been
solved, Statscan would resume the practice of releasing
information from the media lock-up at 8:30 am.
All communications are turned off in the lock-ups, where
reporters are given the information an hour ahead of time so
they can prepare their reports. A Statscan official opens the
communications lines at the end of the lock-up.
Statscan is due to release employment and trade data on
Friday. ECONCA
(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)