Members of Parliament will be asked this fall whether or not they wish to reopen the debate on same-sex marriage, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.
During the election campaign, Harper promised to hold a free vote in the House of Commons on whether Parliament should revisit the issue.
A specific date has not been set.
Although the motion will ask MPs to reopen discussion on same sex marriage, it will not directly challenge the exisiting legislation. It may, however, ask if parliamentarians wish to repeal the existing law or curtail it in some way.
Parliament passed bill C-38 in June 2005, making Canada the fourth country in the world to recognize gay marriage.
But Liberal MP Keith Martin said the government should not be revisiting the issue.
"This issue is dead, it's over. The provinces, the courts and Parliament have decided that same-sex marriage is the law of the land," he said.
Liberal MP Belinda Stronach questioned the prime minister's motivation.
"I think it's a political tactic that the prime minister will use to bring about division," said Stronach. "It is a very sensitive issue for many people as we saw when the debate occurred last time. But I think we moved through that."
The issue has divided the Liberal party, with many members opposed to same-sex marriage.
But Conservative MP James Moore, one of a small number of Tories who supported the bill, said Harper is simply following through on a campaign promise.
"The prime minister said he'd do this. He is doing this. I'm going to vote the same way I did before, which is in favour of same-sex marriage," he said.
"I was elected, being clear to my constituents on that front, and we'll see how it goes."