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The official Opposition is demanding that Jim Love, chair of the Royal Canadian Mint, be removed from his position following a media report that he orchestrated an elaborate tax-shelter scheme for the wealthy descendants of a former prime minister.

“Why did the government give a plum job to someone who was to act as a tax adviser on policy for the Conservatives when they knew — or ought to have known — that he was organizing stratagems so that rich Conservative families would not pay their taxes?” Tom Mulcair demanded in the House of Commons Wednesday.

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“Why hasn’t he been fired yet?”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper described a lawsuit against Love over his handling of former prime minister Arthur Meighen’s fortune, reported by the CBC, as a “dispute between two private parties before the court.”

“I’m obviously not going to comment on that,” Harper said.

Harper’s remarks come a day after documents obtained by the CBC appeared to show how Love, a Toronto tax lawyer, chair of the Mint and long-time friend of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, helped transfer more than $8 million of the Meighen fortune to offshore accounts so the family would save on taxes.