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The origin of all this kerfuffle is that former Liberal Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould adhered to this Act, repelling an assault by high-ranking Liberal colleagues to intervene in the prosecutorial process.

The “Boys” push-back began with the chief of staff of the finance minister, then the finance minister, the the prime minister’s principal secretary, the prime minister, and the clerk of the Privy Council. There were phone calls and meetings between September and December to get her to change her mind, culminating in her removal in January as attorney general and her replacement with a man who has indicated he is favourable toward giving the Boys club what they wanted from her.

Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Clearly, the targets of the barrage were all female from the attorney general to her female chief of staff, her female deputy minister and, indirectly, the female director of public prosecutions. When it was all over, the attorney general and her chief of staff lost their jobs.

The prime minister characterized this controversy as “an erosion of trust” that he should have recognized. But this analysis is an excuse. Wilson-Raybould said she repeatedly explained her position, the law, and that she had made up her mind. She also asked them to stop their efforts, but they escalated the process by utilizing increasingly important men to lobby her. They heard her arguments, but did not listen. She said they told her they needed a “solution,” a euphemism insulting to her because she had followed the law by upholding the director of prosecutions.