OTTAWA A federal Liberal candidate in B.C. says his campaign signs were vandalized in an attempt to tie his campaign to recently surfaced racist images of the prime minister in blackface.

Stephen Fuhr told HuffPost Canada Thursday that his face was coloured in with the exception of his mouth and eyes with thick, black marker. All parties experience some sort of vandalism. It just kind of goes with the punches, he said. This was a little different situation.

He claimed vandals are trying to smear his campaign by linking him to the current controversy embroiling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau .

They didnt knock the sign over or take it out or rip it in half. Theyre trying to tie my efforts in this community to the larger conversation thats happening in the nation right now, and quite frankly, in the world, said the Liberal incumbent.