And here's an article that refers to the leak of "government secrets"
https://www.nationalobserver.com/20...mans-lawyers-push-emails-trudeau-senior-staff
And here's yet another article that refers to the leak of "confidential information"
https://ipolitics.ca/2019/02/26/tor...th-bid-to-force-liberals-to-disclose-records/
What term a news outlet chooses to use does not mean it is the correct legal terminology. Cabinet as a group produces almost zero documents; save for maybe Cabinet meeting minutes. That said; Cabinet will review/discuss many documents produced by let's say civil servants, Cabinet members, deputy ministers, etc. The important distinction here is that authorship of these various documents is not Cabinet itself; although Cabinet may use these documents in the normal course of Cabinet meetings. A document can be produced for the benefit/use of Cabinet, but that document will almost always be authored/produced by somebody else. Thus there is almost never anything that can be considered a "cabinet document." However; there can be "cabinet secrets" per se. In fact; everything discussed in Cabinet meetings is considered a "cabinet secret" and bound by cabinet confidentiality. If Cabinet discusses a presentation made by let's say National Defense; that presentation may or may not be deemed confidential depending on the contents of the presentation. If the presentation is deemed confidential then anyone (Cabinet member or civil servant, etc) who leaks that document will be in breach of trust. However; the presentation is not deemed a "cabinet secret" (although it is deemed confidential); nor is it deemed a "cabinet document" simply because it was presented to Cabinet. The "cabinet secret" is the discussion that Cabinet has with respect to the presentation, not the presentation itself. As I stated earlier; Cabinet almost never produces "documents". The reason relates to our system of government. Because Canada is a constitutional monarchy, there can be no public record of Cabinet dissent. Cabinet's role under our Constitution is to advise the Crown, that advice must be unanimous and without dissent among Cabinet. If it were not unanimous; that means we are giving the Queen a decision and not advice. As silly as it may sound; the Queen/Crown/Monarch in a constitutional monarchy should never be given a decision to make. That is why Cabinet produces next to no documents; to avoid any situation where Cabinet dissent may be made public. That is why all discussion at Cabinet meetings are considered Cabinet secrets and bound by Cabinet confidentiality; to avoid any situation where Cabinet dissent is made public. Circling back to the Norman case and the CBC's use of the term "cabinet secrets"; Cabinet secrets in practice are the discussions had by Cabinet in Cabinet meetings. Cabinet secrets are almost never documents, per se, because Cabinet doesn't produce very many documents.