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A
new poll suggests that a majority of people in Canada's
Atlantic provinces are now opposed to legalizing homosexual
marriage, St. John's The Telegram reported Tuesday.
The
survey by Corporate Research Associates (CRA) of 1,505
Atlantic Canadians in the last half of August found that
54% of the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince
Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia said they
are against redefining marriages, while 38% said they
are in favour. Only 9% said they did not know or had no
response. By comparison, a similar poll one year ago found
Atlantic Canadians evenly split on the issue, 45% for
and 44% against legalizing same-sex unions.
To
Halifax-based CRA president Don Mills, the most significant
finding was the roughly 40% of respondents who said that
they were "completely opposed" to same-sex marriage.
That, he told Charlottetown's The Guardian, "is a
real indication that it's a very divisive issue. It's
not often you get that many people so violently opposed
to any kind of issue. That's a clear signal that things
have changed in the last year." In fact, Mills says
that public opinion over homosexual marriage has now become
so polarized that "a party could actually lose an
election over" this issue.
In
the Telegram, Mills also credited the opposition being
voiced by the faith community and family activists with
the slippage in support for gay marriage in the past year.
"Before, there was one side speaking," he said.
"Now, the other side is being heard from in a fairly
strong manner. That might have had an impact."
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