Ottawa, Canada, Jun 23, 2005 / 22:00 pm
In a surprise midnight vote yesterday that caught the Conservatives off-guard, Canada’s minority Liberal government quickly cleared the way for a vote on the hotly debated same-sex marriage legislation.
The Liberals struck a major victory last night after it forced a vote on the controversial budget bill, with a number of Conservative MPs missing.
The budget was passed by a vote of 152-147. Losing the vote would have automatically toppled the Liberal government and triggered a federal election.
By the time it became evident that the Liberals were going to force a midnight vote, many Conservative MPs had reportedly already left the House, including Conservative leader Stephen Harper, who rushed back.