Opposition Members of Parliament called upon the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drop out his Parliamentary Secretary Dean Del Mastro as the secretary failed to attend more than twenty consecutive meetings of the Canadian House of Commons ethics committee.

Since the 2011 election the Ontario Member of Parliament, Dean Del Mastro has been listed as a member of the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee. However, the Ontario member of parliament has not attended a single meeting for more than nine months, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

Dean Del Mastro has stopped attending the meetings since Postmedia News reported June 5  that he was being investigated by Elections Canada for allegedly overspending on voter-contact calls during his 2008 election campaign in Ontario.

According to the Canadian news paper, Del Mastro didn't receive any extra payment for sitting on the ethics committee but he received annual parliament secretary payment of $15,834 and $157,731 as a member of parliament.

Stephen Harper's government so far has not made any comment, but National Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus who is also a member of the committee said that Mastro has been effectively dumped from the ethics committee.

"It's clear Mr. Del Mastro has been removed from his post because he's not doing his job," Ottawa Citizen quoted Charlie Angus, as saying.

"It would be better if we knew what was the situation rather than creating the fiction he's holding the post," said Angus.

"If he's been sidelined, why doesn't the prime minister just say it? There's no shame in stepping down while he's being investigated while he clears him name," added Angus. 

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