Federal officials disputed a report Monday that alleges dozens of government workers are needlessly granted access to sensitive economic data well ahead of their public release.

"It is important for certain ministers to receive information that impacts the economy in a timely fashion," Andrew MacDougall, the deputy communications director at the Prime Minister’s office told CBC News Monday. "Our government does treat confidential data with extreme caution."

MacDougall was responding to a request for comment by CBC on a Bloomberg report that says Statistics Canada sends economic releases such as employment data and inflation numbers to dozens of government workers and political aides well before the information is released publicly.

Citing access to information requests and interviews with individuals, the news agency says at least 69 people have access to a host of releases of official Canadian economic data.

Insider trading possible

"I think the 69 number is far too big, because the more people that see information, the greater the risk is that people will misuse it," Liberal Treasury Board critic John McCallum said Tuesday. "It's a matter of integrity of government, but it's also about the integrity of our markets. If we get a reputation for being a leaky boat that's not good for Canada internationally," McCallum said.

Inflation, employment and GDP data frequently moves markets, so access to the information in advance could theoretically allow someone to significantly profit ahead of the formal release of information.

The Canadian dollar jumped by nearly a full per cent in the hours ahead of a jobs report in May 2009, for example. That report ended up showing that Canada created an unexpected 36,000 jobs in April, much better than economists had forecast. That led to speculation that some traders somehow got advanced knowledge.

"This is not just a theoretical concern," McCallum said. "We have a case where a finance official was convicted for profiting from his insider knowledge."

On Nov. 23, 2005, then-finance minister Ralph Goodale announced that the Liberal government would cut the tax on corporate dividends and would make no changes to the tax on income trusts.

But opposition politicians and many market watchers noticed that trading volumes and prices in many income trusts and dividend-paying stocks jumped in the last two hours on Nov. 23 — hours before Goodale made his announcement, leading to speculation that somebody was tipped off.

In 2007, the RCMP charged Serge Nadeau, a senior civil servant in the Department of Finance, with breach of trust for using "confidential Government of Canada information for the purchase of securities which gave him a personal benefit."

He plead guilty in 2010 and was fined $14,000 for his actions.

Advance notice given

Still today, advance notice of key decisions and data releases is sometimes given a full day ahead of time. Federal officials acknowledged Monday that certain key employees do receive advanced knowledge of certain reports. But they dismiss the notion of any sort of security lapse.

"The minister’s office treats confidential data with extreme caution," Department of Finance spokesperson Chisholm Pothier said.

It’s a very long-standing process that a very limited number of the minister’s senior staff receive access to select Statistics Canada data at 5 p.m. the night before the data is set to be released, he said.

The staff members are only given the data after being authorized to receive it, and they only receive it in order to brief the minister of finance on its broader policy implications, he said.

"Furthermore, the minister, following best practices, only sees the numbers after 5 p.m. the night before the release and after all media and public appearances have been completed for the day," Pothier said.

In July, Statistics Canada released the results of an independent audit of its data release protocols. In that case, KPMG was focusing on media distributors of government data who are sometimes given the release minutes before it becomes public.

That report found that over a period of six years ending in December 2010, Statistics Canada was sometimes releasing data to distribution partners about a minute in advance of their official release, creating an opportunity for early transmission and thus insider trading. But the KPMG report also concluded it was unlikely any such trading had actually occurred.

"Our government took immediate action and asked for this study when it learned in December 2010 that market-sensitive information was being made available to certain licensed distributors just before its official release time," the Industry Minister Christian Paradis said at the time.

"The agency has committed to strengthening the governance of, management of, and security arrangements around the dissemination of information," Paradis said.

McCallum sits on the Conservative-controlled government operations committee. He says he plans on bringing the issue forward there in the near future, to hear from experts on how to close any loopholes that may exist.

He says he's unsure whether new legislation might be needed, or whether simply making better use of existing protocols would be enough to close any loopholes that might exist.

"I'd want to hear from the experts on that," McCallum said.

NDP finance critic Peggy Nash said she'd support further study on the issue. "Whether it's a legislative issue or an administrative issue, this is something Canadians expect prudent government oversight of," Nash said.

"There's a justified concern that the more people have advanced access to infomation, the more likely it is that confidence in the system is being undermined."