It was an odd political friendship, one that would be hard to imagine in these days of extreme partisanship.
But Paul Marleau says when his late wife Diane was first elected to Parliament in 1988 for the Liberals in Sudbury, then NDP MP John Rodriguez went out of his way to welcome her.
"He had been there before Diane and when she first came to Parliament, he walked across the floor and went over and gave her a peck on the cheek and welcomed her to Ottawa," Marleau said Wednesday. "They really became fast friends."
Marleau and Rodriguez's wife, Bertilla, made regular trips to the airport each Thursday to pick up their spouses, then again on Sunday when they flew back to Ottawa.
In those days, before Stephen Harper became Prime Minister and forbade his MPs from being friendly with the Opposition, Marleau said politicians from different stripes could have civil conversations.
"Those were different days,” he said. “Politics in those days were not like in the Harper times. People were friends. They talked and exchanged ideas and conversed with each other about politics and everything. But Harper didn't want any of his people talking with anybody else."
Marleau and Rodriguez were often invited to the same functions, would sit at the same tables, and a friendship developed that outlasted their time in Ottawa.
With his wife out of politics, Marleau got back in when Rodriguez decided to run for mayor in 2006.
"When he decided to run for mayor, I jumped in and decided to help him out," he said.
Along with former mayor and Tory MPP Jim Gordon, they would meet at Marleau's house to plot strategy for the campaign.
"It was a fun time," he said.
Against Marleau's advice, Rodriguez made a friendly wager during the 2006 campaign that he would win with more than 50 per cent of the vote.
"And I said, John, you're not going to win with more than 50 per cent,” Marleau said. “But as we went to Coniston and all the places where he had taught, he knew whole generations of people -- the mother, father, grandfather, kids."
In the event, Rodriguez won the election with 51.89 per cent of the vote, a result that proved to Marleau that “he really was well loved."
Marleau backed him again in 2010 and 2014 when he tried to recapture the mayor's job, losing to Marianne Matichuk and Brian Bigger respectively. After 2014, his health declined, particularly in the last couple of years.
"It was respiratory,” Marleau said. “Over a period of time his lungs had been damaged, and he needed oxygen at all times. It was becoming very difficult."
He had been and out of hospital in recent weeks, but passed away at home. Now that he's gone, Marleau hopes people remember what a good man he was, someone who always fought battles for the less fortunate.
"He was very respected and well liked," he said. "He deserves the love and affection and respect of the people of Sudbury, for the work and life he gave to the community. He never stopped giving back."
