Now the Harper PMO thinks it can get rid of McLaughlin?

You can see where this is heading.
The Harper Cons have rid themselves of dozens of principled civil servants over the last eight years.
Now they think they've found a way to trash the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and get her to resign too:
Harper alleges Supreme Court Chief Justice broke key rule with phone call - The Globe and Mail

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accused Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of breaching a basic rule of her office, as a deepening conflict between the government and the country’s highest court breaks out into a public dispute.
The Prime Minister’s Office publicly asserted that the Chief Justice attempted to contact Mr. Harper about a court case, and said that he refused to take her phone call when Justice Minister Peter MacKay told him it would be “inappropriate.”

This smear tactic was refuted openly and strongly by McLaughlin's office:

...in an unusual move, McLachlin's office publicly replied to allegations she may have lobbied against Nadon's appointment.
A statement issued by the Supreme Court's executive legal officer, Owen Rees, explains McLachlin was consulted by the special parliamentary committee that was tasked with studying a short list of names drawn up by MacKay's office....
"The chief justice did not lobby the government against the appointment of Justice Nadon," Rees wrote. He said McLachlin or her office flagged a potential problem to both MacKay and the prime minster's chief of staff, Ray Novak, but "did not express any views on the merits of the issue."...
Françoise Boivin, the NDP's justice critic, said the government tends to trash people who are the bearers of bad news. "When they are stopped by the court, well, it is not them who is wrong, it's everybody else," she said.
MP Sean Casey, speaking for the Liberals, said the government attacks people who offer what he called "contrary" opinions. "That's the way these guys operate — when the only tool in your tool kit is a sledge hammer everything looks like a rock."

These guys also don't know when to shut up.