of the Governor General of Canada) on July 20, 2005. Same-sex marriage in the 39th Parliament The Conservative Party, led by Harper, won a minority government in the federal election on January 23, 2006. Harper had campaigned on the promise of holding a conscience vote on a motion to re-open the debate on same-sex marriage. The motion would re-open the same-sex marriage debate, but did not prescribe restoring the opposite-sex definition of marriage. A news report from CTV News on May 31, 2006, showed that a growing number of Conservatives were wary about re-opening the debate on same-sex marriage. One cabinet minister stated he just wanted the issue "to go away", while others including Chuck Strahl and Bill Casey were undecided, instead of directly opposed. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay noted that not a single constituent had approached him on the issue, and Minister for Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn was against re-opening the debate. By November 2006, the debate had shifted and it was the supporters of same-sex marriage that were arguing for a fall vote on the issue and the opponents who were lobbying for a delay. On December 6, 2006, the government brought in a motion asking if the issue of same-sex marriage debate should be re-opened. This motion was defeated the next day in a vote of 175 (nays) to 123 (yeas). Prime Minister Harper afterwards told reporters, "I don't see reopening this question in the future." Recognition of foreign legal unions In Hincks v. Gallardo, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decided on January 7, 2013, that same-sex partners who entered into civil partnerships in the United Kingdom are to be treated as married for the purposes of Canadian law. Marriage statistics From June 2003 (date of the first same-sex marriages in Ontario) to October 2006, 12,438 same-sex marriages were contracted in Canada. By 2011, 21,015 same-sex marriages had been performed in Canada, with an additional 43,560 cohabiting same-sex couples. According to the 2016 census, there were 72,880 same-sex couples residing in Canada, of which 24,370 (33.4 percent) were married. In British Columbia, 38.5 percent of all same-sex couples were married, compared to 38.2 percent in Ontario and 22.5 percent in Quebec. 10,020 children were living in same-sex families. Other same-sex partner benefits in Canada Other kinds of partnership Canadian cohabiting same-sex couples are entitled to many of the same legal and financial benefits as