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Both Pacetti and Andrews have maintained they did nothing wrong.

Attempts to get to the bottom of the complaints have been frustrated by the fact there is no formal process for investigating misconduct complaints between MPs.

Last fall, Trudeau initially asked the Liberal whip, Judy Foote, to speak privately with the two women and, as a result of that informal process, bounced Pacetti and Andrews from caucus.

At the time, he said only that he’d taken action after hearing complaints about “personal misconduct” from an MP from another party. He did not reveal the nature of the complaints or the gender or party affiliation of the complainants.

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However, furious New Democrats accused him of “re-victimizing” the women by making the matter public. Trudeau’s attempts to win all-party support for creating an independent process for investigating the complaints foundered while Pacetti and Andrews, their reputations in tatters, languished in limbo.

In December, Trudeau hired Petersen to conduct an investigation. It is not clear if either of the women co-operated with her or whether she had to rely on notes taken during the complainants’ meetings with Foote.

One of the alleged victims spoke on condition of anonymity to various media outlets, including The Canadian Press, late last November.

She alleged that she and Pacetti, whom she considered a friend, had been at a sporting event together last March. She agreed to go for a night cap in the hotel room Pacetti calls home while in Ottawa, where she alleged he made unwanted sexual advances.