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From Reuters Top Stories:

Canada's Gay Marriage Debate Coming to a Head

By Randall Palmer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The political storm over gay marriage in Canada headed for a flash point on Monday, with opponents and proponents making last-minute pitches ahead of a key vote in Parliament scheduled for Tuesday.

The gay marriage debate dominated headlines and political discussion over the summer after the federal government decided not to appeal a provincial court decision that declared the heterosexual-only definition of marriage unconstitutional.

The opposition Canadian Alliance, which is against gay marriage, will try embarrass the ruling Liberals on Tuesday by introducing an identical motion to one supported by cabinet in 1999. That motion directed Parliament to preserve a definition of marriage as "the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."

"It'll come down to how did you vote last time, how are you voting now and why did you change your mind," John Reynolds, who runs the Alliance's legislative agenda in the House of Commons, told Reuters.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien, asked why he supported the motion in 1999 but not now, shrugged: "Society evolved."

The Alliance is eager to turn it into an issue in the federal election expected to be called next spring, particularly in the vote-rich battleground of Ontario, where the Liberals are seen as most vulnerable -- though they still have overwhelming dominance in the polls.

So many Liberals, particularly in rural districts, have signaled their intention to side with the Alliance on traditional marriage that Tuesday's vote is predicted to be razor-thin.

If it goes down to defeat, the Liberal government will hail the vote as support for its intention to change the law to allow for homosexual marriage.

But the government will find itself in a delicate situation if the motion passes, since it says Parliament -- which is led by the cabinet -- should "take all necessary steps" to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.

That would run contrary to the government's plans to change the definition, and would put cabinet in the position of seeming to ignore the re-expressed -- though nonbinding -- will of Parliament if it pushes ahead with those plans.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said it would not derail the government legislation. "Not at all," he told reporters, charging that the Alliance was playing a political game.

His spokesman, Mike Murphy, was more explicit: "The cabinet has embarked on a process. We'll continue that process."

Gay Ottawa city councilor Alex Munter said that "Canadian values are under threat" by the Alliance motion.

In a dueling news conference, Derek Rogusky of the conservative group Focus on the Family, replied to Munter's remark: "We think that's offensive to the millions of Canadians who hold views otherwise. To suggest that, is quite frankly un-Canadian -- to not tolerate these types of views in our society."

At first, many members of Parliament had been afraid to speak out vocally on the issue for fear of being branded homophobic, but some have been emboldened by polls showing just as many oppose gay marriage as support it and by an avalanche of letters and e-mails.

Meantime, there is a patchwork of rules, with gay marriage legal in Ontario and British Columbia because of court decisions there but banned in the rest of the country.