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In Canada, it seems even pancakes can be classified information.

Public Affairs and Culture Canada spent $1,250 on a taxpayer-funded breakfast for Public Service Pride Week 2025, exclusive government documents obtained by Rebel News show.

Yet the government refuses to show the breakdown of expenditures, citing Section 20 of the Access to Information Act, the clause designed to protect trade secrets and confidential commercial information.

According to the records, everything from the pancake mix to the paper plates has been redacted, so while Section 20 is typically used to safeguard corporate intellectual property or proprietary data, it’s now being used to conceal the quantities and cost breakdown of a federal event menu that featured pancakes, Halal sausages, fruit, granola bars, and coffee.

The documents show the breakfast was part of the government’s expensive week-long pride campaign under the theme “Together, We Create Change,” meant to “amplify 2SLGBTQIA+ voices” and “advance equity” within the federal public service. Thousands of employees participated across the country and abroad.

What’s missing from the celebration is transparency. Even though the Liberals regularly tout openness and accountability, they have chosen to classify breakfast supplies under a law designed for corporate protection.

It’s an excessive and absurd decision.

By applying a “trade secret” exemption to something as mundane as grocery receipts, the department has effectively declared breakfast a matter of national security.

It’s a stark contrast to the outrage that followed former Conservative MP Bev Oda’s $16 orange juice scandal back in 2012—a controversy that made headlines for weeks and fueled debates about government waste before her resignation.

Now, more than a decade later, the current federal government faces its own credibility problem. Among the redacted entries is one labelled “LARGE DRINK – $200,” though what exactly that refers to remains anyone’s guess.

Public Affairs and Culture Canada will undoubtedly insist it is following standard procedure in applying exemptions, but using corporate confidentiality laws to obscure a community breakfast only feeds public skepticism about how Ottawa spends taxpayer money.

The irony, of course, is hard to ignore – the same government pledging “meaningful progress” on inclusion is guarding the price of syrup behind ridiculous claims of trade secrecy.

So, the next time Canadians are told their government is “driving change,” they might remember that somewhere in Ottawa, the recipe for a taxpayer-funded pancake breakfast has been deemed too sensitive for public eyes.

In Canada, even the cost of breakfast can be a state secret.