Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien—the P.M. who presided over Canadian Parliament when the nation's provinces began legalizing gay marriage in 2003—states in an interview with Pink News U.K.:

"Nobody objected basically to having a contract between the partners, there was no problem with that. It was when they used the word marriage, that got [to] rubbing people on the wrong side, including me...[but] the courts said you have to call it marriage."

The piece goes on to give a few more fluffy quotes from Chretien before closing with the coda stating that Canada's "Civil Marriage Act" making unions open to same-sex couples also has provisions outilining in no uncertain terms the fact that gay marriage is a contract between the marrying parties and the state—and declares that no religious institution is required to perform a marriage ceremony.