Ottawa, Canada - A majority of Canadians believe marriage commissioners should be allowed to refuse to perform a same-sex marriage if it is against their religious beliefs, according to a new public opinion poll.
A COMPAS poll conducted last week found 57% of those surveyed said officials who conduct generally secular wedding ceremonies should be allowed to "not officiate at gay marriages," provided there are enough marriage commissioners available for same-sex unions.
The Conservative government has proposed introducing a defence of religions act that would allow officials to refuse to perform gay marriages, protect the free speech of anti-gay religious leaders and protect organizations that refuse to do business with gays and lesbians.
The COMPAS poll suggested there would be significant public support for such a move, with 72% of those contacted for the survey saying that clergy should have the right not to marry a same-sex couple if it runs counter to their beliefs.
"Those numbers are at the level of overwhelming support," said pollster Conrad Winn, the president of COMPAS. "I mean, you can't get three-quarters of Canadians to agree on the weather."
The survey, conducted by telephone between Oct. 18 and 27, is considered accurate to within 4.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
The poll posed a number of hypothetical situations to the 502 people surveyed, asking them if a teacher should be allowed to write a letter to the editor opposing the same-sex law or if a printer should have the right to refuse to print a brochure for a gay group.
In both cases, the respondents to the poll supported those rights, 68% saying the teacher should be allowed to write such a letter and 61% supporting the printer.
The poll also found a majority of Canadians favour a review of Ottawa's same-sex marriage law to ensure it does not infringe on freedom of religion, with 64% of those surveyed supporting a full or partial review of the existing same-sex marriage legislation "to make sure that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are fully protected."
The poll found 24% were opposed to any review and 12% had no opinion on the issue.
Joseph Ben-Ami, the executive director of the Institute for Canadian Values, which sponsored the poll, said the public clearly favours a review of the law.
"Even on complicated matters of public policy such as the redefinition of marriage, Canadians are pretty sophisticated and fair-minded," Mr. Ben-Ami said.
"I think they're saying to our politicians and parliamentarians: 'Look, go back to the drawing board and take another look at this.' "
The institute, a social conservative think-tank, favours a review of the same-sex law passed by the former Liberal government, and Mr. Ben-Ami said the poll shows the public is behind them.
"The [former] government really rushed into this, for partisan reasons we think, without really thinking through the Constitutional issues," he said. "We need to come up with something that everybody can live with.
"What that solution is, we don't know, but we need to take a long, considered look at it all."
Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, has promised to reopen the issue in a free vote in the House of Commons, but MPs from all parties have indicated the vote would not be much different than that held last summer when the same-sex legislation was passed by the former government.
The religious protection proposal is believed to be a consolation prize of sorts for the law's opponents should the Tories lose the vote to reopen the bill.
But government spokesmen have said there are no final plans to introduce such an act.
Critics have said it would trespass on provincial jurisdiction and duplicate existing constitutional protections for religious freedom.
Constitutional experts have questioned whether Ottawa has the legislative power to pass such a law because the registration of marriage is a provincial responsibility according to a 2004 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Dr. David Giuliano, moderator of the United Church of Canada, has written to MPs asking them to stick to the law as it stands, on the grounds it protects gay rights without interfering with religious rights.