Members of the 38th Canadian Parliament and same-sex marriage

[citation needed] A vote-in-principle was expected around April 19, but Conservatives stalled the bill by bringing up more MPs to speak on the issue.

While backbench MPs in 2003, six future cabinet ministers voted in favour of a Canadian Alliance motion defining marriage in exclusively traditional terms.

John Efford, a cabinet minister who recently opposed SSM decided to vote in favour of C-38.

Former Liberal MP Pat O'Brien said he was personally told by six ministers that they may leave the cabinet rather than support SSM legislation, but this did not happen.

At the Liberal biennial convention in March, delegates overwhelmingly approved same-sex marriage as a matter of party policy.

At the Conservative convention, delegates overwhelmingly approved the definition of marriage as only being between one man and one woman as a matter of party policy with 74% in favour, and 26% opposed.