OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Stephen Harper defended his party against criticism that it tried to take political advantage of Terry Fox’s legacy, insisting he was asked to set up a $35-million fund to match Canadian donations.

However, an Aug. 31 letter to him — jointly signed by the Terry Fox Research Institute and the Terry Fox Foundation — does not back up Harper’s assertion. (The letter was released by the Conservatives.)

Harper doubled down on the Conservative campaign’s claim that both the foundation and research institute set up in Fox’s name had requested the money.

“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 told reporters Tuesday.

“We fulfilled that request. I think it’s a great policy and I encourage all Canadians to contribute to the legacy of fighting cancer that Terry Fox left us.”

Harper did not claim — as one of his ministers did Sunday — that the Fox family had supported the request.

But Conservative spokeswoman Meagan Murdoch suggested Monday night that the fault lay with the foundation itself.

“It was mistakenly indicated that the funding requested and welcomed by the Terry Fox Research Foundation was done so on behalf of the family. We regret any confusion this may have caused,” she said.

In fact, the Aug. 31 letter addressed to Harper does not ask the government to set up a matching fund nor to contribute $35 million; nor does it state that the request was on behalf of the family.

Rather, the letter sets out that the charity’s overall national $35-million fundraising goal for the 35th anniversary of Fox’s Marathon of Hope run was tied to Canada’s current population of 35 million. (Terry Fox had a similar fundraising goal: to raise $1 for cancer research for every Canadian at the time.)

The letter said the foundation and research institute seeks “your support for” a pilot project to link cancer research hospitals and clinics as part of a national cancer centre strategy. It asks for an opportunity to discuss the proposal before the Oct. 19 election, saying it will need the “support and participation of the next federal government.”

A similar letter was sent to all parties.

Members of the Fox family were surprised and dismayed when, on Sunday, Harper’s industry minister James Moore, along with Harper’s wife Laureen, announced a Conservative government, if re-elected, would match Canadian donations up to $35 million on the day of the annual charity run. They claimed the initiative had the family’s support.

The Fox family issued a statement Monday to clarify it had not “enthusiastically” supported the announcement as “great,” as claimed by Moore.

Bill Vigars, a family friend who accompanied Terry Fox on his 1980 run, said Fox consistently rejected offers of sponsorship during his cross-country effort. He said Fox’s mother has been even stricter than Terry was in refusing private or political sponsorships, in an effort to ensure his legacy is focused on boosting cancer research and no other cause.

“For 35 years, nobody — no corporation, no individual, no association, no organization — has ever crossed that line of trying to take advantage of Terry,” Vigars said. “For them to say … the family enthusiastically supports it when they know they haven’t even talked to them, and … that it’s done is such a political way, challenging the other parties, it turns it into politics, and that’s just not right.”

Foundation spokeswoman Katherine Koyko could not be reached for comment, but she did tell the National Post that foundation staff were “unaware of the funding pledge prior to Moore’s announcement on Sunday.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

When Moore made the announcement, he urged other parties to get on board.

“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.”

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair scolded the Conservatives for “playing crass politics without the permission of the family or the foundation.”

“I think it speaks for itself of what they’re willing to do,” he said.

Mulcair did not say whether the NDP would honour the Conservatives’ pledge. “We’re not going to politicize it. We’ll leave that to the Conservatives.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau likewise declined to comment on the controversy Tuesday.

But he did defend one of his candidates, Marc Garneau, who posted his support of the Terry Fox Run online Sunday, saying, “It’s great that he got out there and it’s important he did that.”

“But I will use this platform to encourage everyone to continue to support the incredible work that the Terry Fox Foundation and all cancer research institutes do, and say absolutely nothing about politics in relation to that,” he said.

On Tuesday, when asked to clarify who exactly had “mistakenly indicated” that the Fox family supported the Conservative initiative, the Conservatives’ Murdoch did not directly respond.

But in an email she highlighted a part of the family’s statement Monday that said: “We would always welcome government support of cancer research in Terry’s name. Specifically, we would hope that all federal parties would come together in this the 35th anniversary year, for Terry and all who run in his name, in support of the Terry Fox Research Institute’s proposal for a pan-Canadian comprehensive cancer centre strategy.”

Read more about: