The Canadian Tourism Commission is hoping American gay couples will travel north of the border to marry, even while some MPs hope to revisit the same-sex issue with a free vote.

"It's a bit of a dichotomy to promote ourselves as gay friendly and then have a national leader play to a right-wing constituency base, to reopen the same-sex marriage debate," Kevin Bourassa told CTV Newsnet Friday.

Bourassa married partner Joe Varnell in 2001, in Canada's first legal gay marriage.

The commission is spending $300,000 to woo gay tourists, advertising mainly in magazines and community newspapers.

One such advertisement featured in Passport, a New York-based gay and lesbian travel magazine, proclaims Canada is a great place to marry and that "love is love." It's just in time for Toronto's Pride Week Celebration, starting June 19.

But Justice Minister Vic Toews told The Canadians Press yesterday he believes Harper will hold a free vote on same-sex marriage in the fall.

The Conservatives campaigned on a pledge to allow the vote. If MPs approve the idea of addressing same-sex unions, the government would then introduce legislation changing the definition of marriage back to that of a union between a man and a woman.

Only three Conservative MPs voted in favour of same-sex marriage during the last House of Commons vote on the issue: now-Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice, James Moore and Gerald Keddy.

However, Bourassa said the contradicting federal messages won't cause confusion for "politically savvy" tourists.

"Here in the United States, we have heard (President) George Bush talking about a constitutional amendment (to ban same-sex marriage), but nobody really believes that a constitutional amendment is in the books," said Bourassa from New York.

"It's just George Bush playing to his right-wing constituency base every once in a while when his ratings are down. And I think in Canada, people in the United States see it as the same way. They see Canada as a gay-friendly destination, and they think that Stephen Harper is really just playing to his right-wing constituency base ... because he made a promise to revisit the debate. Nobody thinks the debate is going to stop same-sex marriage."

Kenyon also said Canada continues to make steps in recognizing the rights of gays and lesbians.

"I think we've come a tremendously long way since the dark days that preceded Pierre Trudeau's decriminalization of homosexuality," said Kenyon. "I think Canadians should be very proud, and confident that the future is only going to be better for diverse groups in our country."

John Kenyon, chair of the Ontario Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, argued it makes good economic sense to advertise Canada as a hot destination for gay tourists.

As border security becomes an increasing issue and both American and Canadian citizens are encouraged to use passports, 84 per cent of gay Americans have the documents, according to a 2005 report by the Canadian Tourism Commission.

The national U.S. average is just 29 per cent.

The report also claimed that gay tourists spend $5,000 per week, compared to $1,500 for straight tourists.

With a report by CTV's Rosemary Thompson