Stephen Harper will be speaking at a rally in Etobicoke on Saturday night that Doug and Rob Ford have helped organize, but the Conservative leader repeatedly refrained from using their names on the campaign trail Wednesday.

“Over the last couple of days we’ve decided — the Conservative Party, again — that we need a rally and we really have to get the message out. And the message is pretty clear: if they vote for Justin Trudeau, it’s going to cost the average household thousands of dollars of taxes. He’s going to increase taxes. If you vote for Stephen Harper, we’re going to continue on with prosperity,” Doug Ford told CP24 in the morning.

“Saturday night. It’s 7:30 at the Congress Centre on Dixon Road. And man, we’re gonna show ’em what a real rally is about.”

With the Ford brothers appearing at the prime minister’s even in Etobicoke on Tuesday, CP24’s Stephen LeDrew pressed the former city councillor and mayoral candidate for more details on his and his brother’s involvement in the rally.

“We’re going to have a rally, and it’s not us — it’s the Conservative Party. Rob and I are going to be out there as well…It’s the Conservative Party that’s engineering it, along with us. We’ve been part of the Conservative Party for…50 years,” he said, both promoting the event and distancing himself from it.

The prime minister would be speaking, he clarified, but Ford likely wouldn’t be introducing him.

“I don’t know about a warm up. I’m going to be there shaking hands and kissing babies,” he said.

Join me and my brother Doug as we host @pmharper this Saturday, 7:30 PM at the Toronto Congress Centre #elxn42 #elxn2015 — Rob Ford (@TorontoRobFord) October 14, 2015

At a noontime event in Brantford, the prime minister was asked how he could run a tough on crime campaign while campaigning with Rob Ford — “the crack smoking former mayor of Toronto”, and Doug Ford who’s admitted to smoking marijuana.

Oddly, he wouldn’t use their names.

“I think our position on these issues is very well known, and the support we’ve had from those individuals from our party is longstanding,” Harper answered.

He was asked the same question again, and gave a similar answer.

“Once again, our position on these issues are very clear. I’m not going to cast those kind of judgments. Our platform is very clear and the support of that family for our party is longstanding and well known,” he said.