Conservative party volunteers accused of defacing opponents’ lawn signs are no longer working on Brampton Centre Bal Gosal’s campaign according to an email from Gosal’s campaign headquarters.

“Our campaign respects the democratic process and does not condone vandalism,” an email from Gosal’s communications manager, Robert Lynch, said. “There is no place for this kind of activity. The individuals in the video are no longer volunteering on this campaign.”

The move came after the Liberal candidate for Brampton Centre filed a complaint with police and Elections Canada based on a video that showed men — apparently Gosal supporters — defacing opponents’ lawn signs and installling signs for Gosal, the Conservative who won the old Bramalea-Gore-Malton seat in 2011.

The video was shot by an unnamed volunteer working on Liberal candidate Ramesh Sangha’s campaign.

Sangha’s campaign team decided to file the complaint after viewing the video Wednesday night, the Liberal campaign manager Tom Lewis said Saturday.

“Our team is shocked and disappointed that the Conservative campaign has descended to really over-the-top attacks and vandalizing opponents’ signs,” Lewis said in a telephone interview.

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

An official with Elections Canada said complaints about lawn signs are handled by the Commissioner of Elections Canada. A spokesperson for the commissioner said they don’t discuss individual complaints unless charges are laid or a compliance agreement is reached.

The video posted on YouTube shows three men erecting a lawn sign supporting Gosal. It’s night and the men wear dark sweatshirts with the words “Team Gosal” in white letters across the back.

They’re erecting the Gosal lawn sign. The video captures one of the men from a distance appearing to kick down a New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair sign.

“There, there he just did it,” the unidentified videographer is heard saying.

The videographer then approaches the men. A confrontation ensues in which the videographer is heard saying: “I just caught you guys on camera breaking the sign.”

A Team Gosal worker replies: “I don’t broke a sign (sic). I’m going my job. OK?”

The videographer then says: “Breaking signs is your job?”

The Team Gosal worker replies: “Yeah.”

The camera then pans across two damaged lawn signs. One for Mulcair is lying on the ground. Another one for Sangha is twisted and leaning toward the ground.

The incident, which occurred outside a Brick store on Clarence St. and Kennedy Rd. S., comes amid a tight race for the redistributed riding of Brampton Centre.

Gosal, who is minister of state for sport, won by a slim margin in 2011, beating his NDP rival by just over 500 votes.

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Brampton is seen as a crucial riding by all three major parties.

All four Brampton ridings elected Conservatives in the last federal race. Redistribution has created a fifth riding in the fast-growing, highly diverse suburban city.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has visited the city three times, and held his largest rally there, in a bid to recapture what had been a Liberal stronghold in previous elections.