Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has kicked both former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould and fellow ex-cabinet minister Jane Philpott out of the Liberal caucus.
Trudeau made the announcement tonight after spending the day consulting by phone with caucus members about whether they wanted the pair to remain in the Liberal fold.
It's the latest twist in the turmoil that has roiled the top ranks of the Trudeau government for months, fuelled by Wilson-Raybould's allegations that she had been improperly pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to intervene in the criminal prosecution of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin.
Wilson-Raybould, who wrote to her fellow Liberals earlier in hopes of convincing them to let her stay, stepped down from cabinet in February after Trudeau shuffled her out of the coveted justice portfolio and into Veterans Affairs, a move the former minister believes was prompted by her refusal to succumb to PMO pressure.
Philpott followed suit three weeks later, surrendering her role as Treasury Board president over what she called a lack of confidence in how the PMO had handled the SNC-Lavalin controversy.
Their ouster comes on the heels of a fresh uproar over a key phone conversation between the ex-minister and former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick, the country's top bureaucrat a conversation Wilson-Raybould secretly recorded.