The RCMP arrested an Environment Canada employee on Wednesday for allegedly leaking the federal government's draft climate change legislation.

In a statement, the Mounties said the male employee was arrested Wednesday morning for breach of trust under the Criminal Code.

"An employee who violates the terms of their workplace security clearance, including the release of secret documents, may be subjected to legal consequences, including criminal charges," said Supt. Stan Burke, the officer in charge of financial integrity and the RCMP's "A" Division, in a release Wednesday.

An Environment Canada spokeswoman said the department would not release the employee's name because the matter is under police investigation. The employee's location also wasn't released.

Police said they received a complaint on April 17 that a secret draft copy of the climate change section of the government's Eco-Action Plan had been leaked.

Lynn Brunette of Environment Canada said the complaint came from the department's deputy minister, Michael Horgan.

"We take information security really seriously and he wanted to make sure that we would investigate the leak," she said.

Last month, Environment Minister John Baird was forced to announce the highly anticipated climate change plan a day early after a speech detailing the plan was inadvertently faxed to Liberal environment critic David McGuinty.

The plan called on Canada to reduce its current greenhouse gas emissions by 150 million tonnes by 2020 and will require most industries in Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent of 2006 levels.

It is not clear whether Wednesday's arrest was in relation to that incident.

With files from the Canadian Press