(seen in the Globe And Mail article Oh, Canada: a divided approach to marriage by JOHN IBBITSON)

In 1988, the Supreme Court struck down the criminal law on abortion.

Parliament, riven by the most divisive moral issue of the day, could not produce a new law that a majority of MPs and senators would support. So today, there is effectively no law at all regarding abortion in Canada, which means abortion is legal.

Exactly the same solution -- if solution is what you would call it -- may be about to befall the issue of same-sex marriage

...

If so, what would happen then?

In the short term, gay marriage would be legal in some provinces and not in others. Since gay spouses already have equal rights and responsibilities under the law -- thanks to a Supreme Court decision in 1999 extending spousal benefits to same-sex couples -- there would be no serious impairment of gay rights. Same-sex couples could tie the knot in Ontario, British Columbia and probably soon in Quebec -- most of the country, in other words -- and that list would grow as separate court challenges were brought before other provincial appeals courts. Mind you, getting married in Ontario and divorced in Alberta might be an adventure, but lawyers thrive on such things.

Eventually, the issue would land before the Supreme Court, which would probably rule in favour of same-sex marriage. Unless and until that day arrived, we would simply live with a patchwork law