Prime Minister Stephen Harper privately met the men caught on tape vandalizing Liberal and NDP signs while putting up signs for the Conservative candidate, photographs show.

The men, who have been identified as Balkar Jhutti and Harvinder Rai of Brampton, Ontario, privately met Harper at the premises of a company owned by Jhutti, a Conservative donor.

Harper had been visiting the Brampton Centre riding to support Conservative incumbent Bal Gosal, the candidate whose signs the vandals were putting up while tearing down the opponents’ ones.

“I don’t care,” one of the vandals is heard saying after being caught in the act and confronted by a Liberal volunteer. “I’m doing my job”.

“I am shocked and disappointed that the Conservative Campaign has descended to over the top attacks and vandalizing opponents’ signs,” the riding’s Liberal candidate Ramesh Sangha said. “There is no place for these types of actions in our community.”

Sangha’s team reported the incident to the local police and sent a letter of complaint Elections Canada for further investigation.

“This is not how democracy works in Canada and certainly not in Brampton,” Sangha added. “I am calling on Bal Gosal to immediately apologize for and cease these dirty election tactics.”

“Under Stephen Harper, Conservatives have broken election rules in every election,” Sangha add. “The Liberal team remains focused on bringing positive change to the people of Brampton Centre. We will not be discouraged by dishonest Conservative election tactics.”

“It’s unfortunate that after such a long campaign, this is what we have come to,” NDP candidate Rosemary Keenan said. “Our team of volunteers have worked extremely hard over the past couple months and to see this happen is disgraceful.”

“We need to start electing representatives that would rather put time into making our communities better than resorting to tactics like this,” Keenan added. “People in Brampton are fed up with this kind of politics and deserve somebody who’s actually interested in their concerns, rather than doing whatever it takes to get elected.”

Neither the Conservative Party of Canada nor Bal Gosal has responded to the incident.