OTTAWA, June 25 (UPI) -- The surprise passage of Canada's budget makes a quick vote on same-sex marriage almost inevitable, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.
Conservatives blamed Liberal members of Parliament -- who oppose the bill changing the definition of marriage -- for forcing the quick vote, but were unwilling to block their own party's budget maneuver.
Liberals held a quick budget vote Thursday night when they realized that seven Conservative members were absent. The Conservatives had threatened an attempt to try to bring down the government over the budget unless the same-sex marriage vote was delayed until the fall.
Pat O'Brien, who quit the Liberal Party three weeks ago over the issue and is now an independent, told the newspaper that the budget was rammed through "with unconscionable speed."
