The federal government may alter its controversial plan to legalize gay marriage, Health Minister Anne McLellan said Wednesday after a vote showed Parliament was almost evenly split on the issue.

McLellan said the fact that Prime Minister Jean Chretien was stepping down next February meant his successor -- likely former Finance Minister Paul Martin -- would have a free hand to tackle the situation as he saw fit.

"Unless this draft bill is presented to the House and voted on before the change in leadership, I don't think anyone should assume that this draft legislation is the legislation that will ultimately be presented to Parliament," she told reporters.

"Why wouldn't he (Martin) take another look at this with whoever is in his cabinet and talk to Canadians about how he wants to move forward?"

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon couldn't say whether he has any guarantee that the controversial legislation will go ahead under a government led by Martin.

Cauchon dodged questions about whether he has any assurances his proposed legislation will survive the transition to Martin.

"If you ask me the question today, I will answer that what is true today for this government will be true as well in the future for another government... I believe we're going in the right direction and today I believe as well the next government will keep going in the same direction.''

The federal government unveiled draft same-sex legislation in July after courts in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec ruled that traditional marriage laws calling for the union of one man and one woman violate the Charter of Rights.

The Supreme Court of Canada has been asked to give its opinion on the draft bill, before referring it back to Parliament. That's unlikely before April, 2004 -- meaning legislation could be more than a year away from Parliament.

On Tuesday night, a Canadian Alliance motion affirming the traditional definition of marriage failed by just five votes, 137 to 132.

More than 50 Liberals -- nearly a third of the caucus -- voted with the Opposition, highlighting the deep divisions within the party. And 31 MPs were deliberately absent from the House and did not vote.

The vote was largely symbolic, but Alliance leader Stephen Harper says the party made its point about the schism within the Liberal government.

"It should send a warning signal to them that they've got some big problems on this issue and they've got them with core Liberal voters," he told reporters.

Globe and Mail columnist Jane Taber told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday, it's hard to choose a winner from the day's political fight.

"The Canadian Alliance... had a political victory yesterday because again they did show the disarray and the divisiveness within the liberal caucus," Taber said. "But if you're a person who supports same-sex unions then you're not a winner."

According to Taber, if the party whip was not on the prime minister's cabinet, the outcome might have been "an embarrassing defeat for the prime minister."
"There are some cabinet ministers who did support the prime minister on this, who would not have, had the whip not been on," Taber said.

But in the hours after the virtual tie, the Liberals were claiming a victory, of sorts.

"You have a good demonstration that, indeed, society evolved -- I believe we're going in the right direction," Cauchon told reporters in Ottawa.

With reports from The Canadian Press