OTTAWA, December 3, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A COMPAS poll commissioned by the National Post has found that 63% of Canadians are supportive of maintaining the current definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman. 31% opposed maintaining the current law and supported altering the definition of marriage to encompass homosexual couplings. However the poll also found that when given three options, one a so-called compromise measure allowing legally recognized homosexual civil unions, Canadians are fairly evenly split. The survey showed 37% favored civil unions, 30% traditional marriage, and 31% homosexual ‘marriage’. Even though polls show that 50% of Canadian Alliance supporters support maintaining the traditional definition of marriage over homosexual ‘marriage’ or civil unions, Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper, was quick to abandon traditional marriage for a compromise civil union proposal. Speaking to the National Post editorial board yesterday Harper said, “The position that most Canadian Alliance MPs have taken and most Tories have taken is that we are prepared to recognize in law non-traditional relationships, including gay unions, but that does not mean dismantling the traditional definition or institution of marriage.”
Harper’s position would lead to the granting of many, if not most, marriage privileges to homosexual couples, thereby still granting them legal ‘marriage’ in all but name. Many pro-family leaders have warned that this supposed compromise solution would inevitably also undermine the special status of marriage and open the door to even more legal persecution of individuals and institutions opposed to homosexuality. Campaign Life Coalition Canada (CLC), the political arm of the pro-life movement in Canada, has warned politicians that there are “serious problems” with the line of thinking which “would support the idea of recognizing same-sex civil unions as an acceptable alternative to legalizing same-sex ‘marriage.’” In its September newsletter, CLC notes that “the debate about legal recognition of same-sex relationships is about more than the word ‘marriage’; there can be no legal recognition of a relationship based on immoral activity. The compromise or alternative of a formal, legal registry of homosexual relationships concedes that such relationships are a morally valid lifestyle choice. This is simply untrue. Whether you call it a registered union or ‘marriage,’ such recognition is nothing less than a societal stamp of approval on such a relationship.”
See related LifeSite coverage Marriage Advocates Warned Against Compromise Civil Union Measure https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/aug/03082101.html
See the National Post coverage of the poll: https://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=43EBCD11-CF45-4B01-BE1F-BF938891AA89