Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands in the House of Commons today (Dec. 7, 2007)
to vote in favour of a motion to re-examine Canada's same-sex marriage law.
Parliament, with a vote of 175-123, defeated a bid to revisit the contentious issue.

Tories declare same-sex issue closed
'I don't see reopening this,' Harper says after Commons' vote
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH - December 8th 2006.

OTTAWA — Same-sex marriages are here to stay in Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his party has no plans to revisit the topic — even if he wins a majority government in the future — after Parliament yesterday overwhelmingly voted not to reopen debate on the controversial issue.

"We made a promise to have a free vote on this issue, we kept that promise, and obviously the vote was decisive and obviously we'll accept the democratic result of the people's representatives," Harper said after the vote.

"I don't see reopening this question in the future," he said.

Politicians from all parties, including six cabinet ministers, came together to defeat — by a vote of 175-123 — a Conservative motion that would have opened the door to restoring the traditional definition of marriage.

It's a result that allows gays and lesbians to continue getting married, and rids the Tories of a difficult issue that could have dogged them in an election campaign.

And once the votes were counted, MPs, though divided in their views, were almost unanimous in agreeing it was time to put the emotional issue behind them for good.

"I'm saying the file is now finished. We are turning the page. Parliamentarians have expressed their views on this and it is time to move (on)," said Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, who voted against the motion to reopen debate on same-sex marriage.

Even those who voted to reopen the debate came out of the House of Commons saying it was time for Parliament to move on to other debates.

"I don't think there's any intentions of reopening it. There's been no commitment in that respect and I don't see any prospect in that respect," Justice Minister Vic Toews said.

By itself, yesterday's Conservative motion would not have overturned same-sex marriage. Rather it proposed "to introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages."

For proponents of same-sex marriages, there was celebration and relief.

"It's quite clear that after three votes in three years in three different parliaments that this issue is settled," said Laurie Arron, of Canadians for Equal Marriage. "It's quite clear there is a growing consensus among Canadians that equal marriage is here to stay.

"If this motion would have passed, we would have been dragged into years and years of debate and court challenges," he said. "Clearly, it is settled and certainly we're very happy to get on with our lives."

But it's not just proponents who are pleased. More than a few Conservatives are happy to have the issue off their back before the next election, which could come as early as spring.

Nova Scotia Conservative MP Gerald Keddy (South Shore-St. Margaret's) said the Liberals were keen to make the Conservatives "wear" the issue as part of the opposition strategy to "show us as being neo-conservative, of being intolerant.

"I think we put an end to that today," Keddy said.

Parliament had endorsed the legalization of same-sex marriages in June 2005 by a vote of 158-133 but the Tories had argued that vote was skewed because Liberal cabinet ministers were forced to support the bill.

Harper promised in the last election campaign that his party would hold a free vote on same-sex marriage. And for the Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats, it was a free vote yesterday. Only the Bloc Québécois "whipped" its members to oppose the motion. Two Bloc MPs abstained.

Despite the vote, Liberal MP Scott Brison (Kings-Hants) predicts that a "minority of Canadians" will continue to pressure MPs to turn back the clock and restore the traditional definition of marriage.

That includes former Liberal MP Pat O'Brien, now head of Defend Marriage Canada, who was on Parliament Hill for the vote and is now vowing to keep the issue alive, saying it will be the "electorate" that decides when the issue is done.

"I think there's a very large proportion of this country, perhaps even a majority of the country that doesn't endorse same-sex marriage," O'Brien said. "This is far too serious an issue to give up lightly."

In the weeks leading to the vote, there had been speculation that the Conservatives might propose legislation to protect officials who refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

But Harper said yesterday such a law is not in the works.

Gay marriage became legal in Canada last year under the previous Liberal government in response to a series of court rulings that gave gay people the right to marry. Thousands of gay Canadians, as well as foreign visitors, have gotten married.

Laurie Arron, national coordinator for Canadians for Equal Marriage, which led the effort to legalize gay marriage, said Thursday's vote reflects a growing consensus among Canadians that it is time to move on. Last year's vote to allow gay marriage was 158-133.

"It's clear that this issue is now settled. The vote today was quite overwhelming," Arron said.

Same-sex marriage is legal in four other countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and South Africa. In the United States, only the state of Massachusetts allows gay marriage. Vermont and Connecticut permit civil unions, California grants similar status through a domestic-partner registration law, and more than a dozen states give gay couples some legal rights.