Toronto: Indian-origin Canadian MP Ruby Dhalla, called the "third hottest" woman politician by Maxim magazine, has been accused of maltreating two nannies employed to treat her mother.
Dhalla has represented the Indian-dominated constituency of Brampton-Springdale on the outskirts of Toronto since 2004.
The nannies, who were hired to take care of Dhalla’s mother, allege they were illegally employed and maltreated. Magdalene Gordo, 31, and Richelyn Tongson, 37, say they were forced to work up to 16 hours a day five days a week just for $250 a month at the MP's family home.
They also allege that Dhalla took away their passports and forced them to do non-nanny jobs like washing family cars and shining shoes. They were also forced to clean the MP's chiropractic clinics, they allege.
A former Miss India-Canada runner-up, Dhalla is a trained chiropractic practitioner. Reports also say the Dhalla family did not seek approval for hiring under the government's Live-In Caregiver Programme for the women to live and work in a family home.
Canadians have to take government permission to hire foreign nannies for family care.
Denying the allegations, Dhalla says the nannies were never abused in her home.
In a statement to the local media, Dhalla says she has "no knowledge of the details regarding the live-in caregivers for her family".
She says she had "no involvement in the selection, interviewing, hiring, supervising, sponsoring or any financial transactions whatsoever with a live-in caregiver for my family".
The nannies made the complaint against Dhalla at a public meeting here two weeks ago. The meeting was called by two Ontario provincial ministers after allegations that their employers and placement agencies had colluded to keep them enslaved.
This is the second controversy involving Dhalla this year. In March, she challenged the distribution of DVDs of a Bollywood film in which she is allegedly shown in steamy scenes.
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