OTTAWA—Disturbing graffiti has turned up on Liberal campaign posters in an Ottawa-area riding, stirring up parallels to the anti-politician rhetoric that became an issue in the U.S. earlier this year.

More than 100 signs for Ryan Keon, the Liberal candidate in Nepean-Carleton, were spray-painted Friday night with rifle-target symbols over Keon’s face, as well as “graphic and explicit” messages, according to the campaign team.

Ottawa police have been asked to investigate and Keon issued a statement Saturday to deplore the vandalism.

“This really is a direct attack on our democracy,” Keon said in the statement. “I have two young children at home and now I have to explain to them why their father’s picture on my campaign signs has a bull’s eye on my head. It’s incredibly disturbing to me, my family and our democracy.”

Keon, a lawyer, has been careful not to blame any of his opponents for the vandalism, saying he would leave it to the police to find the sign-defacers.

In Tucson in January, a gunman trying to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened fire in a supermarket — a rampage that left six dead, 13 injured and Giffords critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head.

In the aftermath, some drew a direct connection between the attack and the anti-politician rhetoric that was being whipped up by Sarah Palin, former Republican vice-presidential candidate and now a star of the Tea Party movement. Shortly before the Tucson attack, Palin had included Gifford’s face in an ad that drew rifle crosshairs on politicians’ faces, with the slogan: “Don’t retreat, reload.”

The vandals who spray-painted the target signs on Keon’s face this past weekend also scrawled epithets denouncing Liberals and “tree huggers.”

Keon’s campaign team estimates that the damages amount to around $2,000.