Feds promoted gay weddings

If doubts had persisted about the validity of foreign same-sex marriages performed in Canada, the federal government’s own tourism agency would have had some serious explaining to do about a campaign it proudly touted in 2006 to attract gay and lesbian couples from the U.S. to “tie the knot” in this country.

A glossy pitch from the Canadian Tourism Commission for Americans to get hitched north of the border appeared at that time in New Yorkbased Passport, the most widely read gay travel magazine in the U.S.

“This is a very important niche,” commission spokeswoman yolaine dupont said in 2006, following the launch of the ad campaign.

“We don’t get into the politics” of same-sex marriage, she said, adding the gay-nuptials market was becoming so lucrative after Canada’s effective legalization of the practice in 2004 that the commission had decided to make it a top priority for luring tourists.

The Vancouver-based federal Crown corporation had first identified gay Americans in 2005 as an increasingly significant part of the Canadian tourism market, noting that gay men and women are well known to have higher levels of discretionary income and are more likely to possess passports.

“Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are among the favourite destinations for gay and lesbian travellers,” the tourism commission had said.

“The latest campaign recognizes that marriage is just one more reason to visit Canada.