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“In August of this year we received a request from the Terry Fox Institute and the Terry Fox Foundation for the kinds of contributions and matching funds we’re setting up,” Harper said. “We fulfilled that request; I think it’s a great policy.”

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One longtime friend and confidante of Fox said the announcement, made Sunday by outgoing Conservative MP James Moore, was “so wrong on so many levels.”

“There is no place in the fight against cancer for politics,” said Bill Vigars, who organized public relations for the Marathon of Hope in 1980.

The Terry Fox Foundation, which has for years avoided politicizing Fox’s legacy, issued a statement Monday underlining their non-partisan status.

Moore — the federal Industry Minister, who is not seeking re-election — said Sunday in Port Moody, B.C., that a Conservative government would commit up to $35 million to match donations made during this year’s Terry Fox Run, if the party is re-elected in October.

Moore was accompanied by Laureen Harper, wife of Conservative leader Stephen Harper, and Tim Laidler, the party’s candidate in the Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam riding.

“It would be nice if the other political parties would all double down on our commitment and stand with the legacy of Terry Fox and say regardless of what happens on Oct. 19 that they will recognize Terry Fox as a hero and will move forward,” Moore said.

So wrong on so many levels

“But it’s a commitment that will for sure be met by Stephen Harper should he be elected.”