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Datasets / Global Macro
statcan.gc.ca/

Statistics Canada Web Data Service

Freeauth: noneCustom#macro-economic#historical-data#time-series#releases✓ verified Nov 4, 2026

Statistics Canada Web Data Service

Statistics Canada's Web Data Service (WDS) is a keyless REST API for data and metadata in the agency's main output database. JSON methods expose changed tables and series, table metadata, vector and coordinate time series, date-range queries, code sets, and links to full-table CSV and SDMX downloads. It is the general API across Statistics Canada tables, distinct from individual table entries in this catalog.

Required Attribution:

Identify Statistics Canada as the source and include the title of the Statistics Canada product used, where available.

Coverage

Statistics Canada data tables across population, labour, prices, trade, national accounts, agriculture, transport and other subjects. Granularity ranges from table metadata to individual vector observations with reference periods, release time, frequency, status, decimals and scalar codes. Updates are available each business day at 8:30 a.m. Eastern; some methods can be unavailable while tables update between midnight and 8:30 a.m. Free history depth varies by series. Delay beyond release time: Not stated.

Verdict

This is a broad Canadian macro and sector signal for release monitoring and time-series pipelines without maintaining one connector per table. Preserve vector or PID/coordinate identifiers, frequency, status, scalar and release time because similarly named series can differ in units or revision state. Use full-table downloads or daily delta files for large updates rather than many point calls. The service limit is 25 requests per second per IP, and attribution is required under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.

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Use in your agent

Load Statistics Canada vector observations into pandas and Parquet. Checked against the provider's documentation on Nov 4, 2026.

Raw skill file (/skills/statcan-wds.md)Also in our MCP server: call get_ingestion_skill with {"slug": "statcan-wds"}.

Access

  • No account or key. POST vector IDs and latestN values to the WDS method.
  • Use full-table or delta files for large updates.

Request

bash
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '[{"vectorId":1,"latestN":3}]' 'https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/wds/rest/getDataFromVectorsAndLatestNPeriods'

Format

JSON response with request status, series identifiers and observations carrying periods, value, decimals, scalar, status, release time and frequency.

Load into pandas and Parquet

Needs Python 3 with requests, pandas and pyarrow.

python
"""Statistics Canada WDS vector observations -> pandas -> Parquet. No key."""
import requests
import pandas as pd

URL = "https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/wds/rest/getDataFromVectorsAndLatestNPeriods"
r = requests.post(URL, json=[{"vectorId": 1, "latestN": 3}], timeout=60)
r.raise_for_status()
item = r.json()[0]
obj = item["object"]
df = pd.DataFrame(obj["vectorDataPoint"])
df.insert(0, "vectorId", obj["vectorId"])
df.insert(1, "productId", obj["productId"])
df.to_parquet("statcan_vector_1.parquet", index=False)
print(len(df), "observations for vector", obj["vectorId"], "status", item["status"], "latest release", df["releaseTime"].max())

Run by us on 2026-11-04 (python 3.13.5 | pandas 3.1.0 | pyarrow 26.0.0 | requests 2.34.2). Result: 3 observations for vector 1 status SUCCESS latest release 2026-09-23T08:30

Limits

  • 25 requests per second per IP; 50 requests per second server-wide.
  • Some methods return 409 during overnight updates.

Quirks

  • Apply scalar codes and retain decimal, status and frequency codes.
  • Keep PID/coordinate or vector ID.
  • Retain releaseTime for revisions.

Terms and attribution

  • The Open Licence allows commercial and non-commercial reuse.
  • Acknowledge Statistics Canada and the product used.

Sources

Information and education only. Not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Listings can be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date and are provided "as is". Free tiers, limits and licenses belong to each provider and can change, so check the provider's own terms before you rely on them. Terms & Disclaimer

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