The prime minister's parliamentary secretary has waded in to the Ontario election campaign.

Over the weekend, Conservative MP Dean Mastro commissioned a poll because he felt a local newspaper underplayed the popularity of the local Progressive Conservative candidate.

The Globe and Mail reported Peterborough This Week newspaper published a poll showing Liberal Jeff Leal had a 45.5-per-cent share of the vote compared to 28 per cent for his PC candidate Alan Wilson.

Mastro disagreed with the poll so decided to conduct his own.

"I was deeply concerned that publishing numbers in the fashion as presented on the cover of a weekly large circulation paper could significantly suppress voter participation," he told the Globe and Mail.

"The methodology was not released and the responses could have just as easily been provided by six-year-olds as registered voters."

Conveniently, Mastro's poll, which he publicized on Twitter, has both the Liberal and PC candidates in a dead heat at 34 per cent each. His poll numbers match province-wide ones published recently that have the Liberals and Conservatives virtually tied.

But Mastro insists his intentions are not political — he says he's "motivated by democracy."

"I dispute that I'm heavily involved in the provincial election, I want people to vote in each and every election," he said. "When information is published that suggests the election is decided based on flawed methodology it runs contrary to one of my core democratic values which is that people need to exercise their right to vote."

Despite a directive from the Prime Minister's Office warning members to avoid becoming "the story" in any provincial elections, it seems in this case Mastro has become "the story".

Mastro, however, has company. Many of Harper's MPs, including senior cabinet ministers, have made their presence felt in the Ontario campaign.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Treasury Board President Tony Clement, and Labour Minister Lisa Raitt have all been active on the Ontario hustings.

While it's not unusual for provincial candidates to get an endorsement from their local sitting MP, it's rare to see federal ministers making such visible forays into an Ontario election, York University political scientist Robert Drummond told the National Post.

"Federal cabinet ministers have tried to stay out of provincial campaigns in some cases for fear that they might turn off more voters than they would attract. In other cases, they feel it's not really their role," he said

"In this case there's a sense that the Conservatives are in a good position to challenge for government and the federal party maybe feels they would find it easier to deal with Conservative governments at a provincial level and may be willing to encourage that."

(CP Photo)