The Canadian public slightly supports the notion of gay marriage -- but they are increasingly uncomfortable calling it marriage, a new poll has found.

The Ipsos-Reid survey, conducted for CTV and the Globe and Mail, also found that if the Supreme Court ultimately finds the federal government's proposed bill to be constitutional, 52 per cent of Canadians would accept it.

But 45 per cent would want "the federal government to make the legal use of the word marriage apply only to heterosexuals in law, that is a man and a woman."

The poll comes just as the Supreme Court starts hearing three days of arguments on a draft bill that would extend marriage to same-sex couples.

"Since June of 1999, overall conceptual numbers have not changed," John Wright, senior vice-president of Ipsos-Reid, told CTV.ca.

One thing has changed, he said. "While certain people could conceptually agree there should be a union of two individuals, what they was having a hard time accepting was the role of the word 'marriage.'"

Wright said in a similarly worded question in August 2003, "we had opposition to the word 'marriage' being used in a same-sex union at 37 per cent." That is now up to 45 per cent opposition.

The first question asked was: As you may know, the courts in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and the Yukon have recognized same-sex marriages in their province or territory and made them legal. Based on knowing this, do you support or oppose same-sex couples being allowed to marry and register their marriage with their provincial government?

Fifty-four per cent supported the notion. Twenty-five per cent were somewhat supportive, and 28 per cent strongly supported the notion.

While 43 per cent opposed, 32 per cent were strongly opposed and 11 per cent were somewhat opposed.

Quebec and Ontario showed the most support at 62 and 56 per cent respectively. Alberta and Saskatchewan/Manitoba were the least supportive, at 41 and 39 per cent -- although smaller sample sizes for regions means the margin of error rises.

Younger Canadians were more likely to be supportive, as were those living in urban areas and those with post-secondary education.

Fifty-one per cent of men opposed the idea compared to 36 per cent of women.

The second question was: Now, let's suppose that the Supreme Court of Canada rules similarly that same sex marriage is constitutional. Would you accept this decision fully with no restrictions in its application and that the word marriage be used for everyone or do you want the federal government to do everything it can to make the legal use of the word marriage apply only to heterosexuals in law, that is a man and a woman?

Quebec was the most supportive province, with 59 per cent accepting an expanded definition, followed by B.C. (55) and Ontario (54). Saskatchewan/Manitoba and Alberta were the least supportive at 38 and 36 per cent respectively.

Younger Canadians, women and urbanites were more likely to accept the expanded definition.

In Alberta and Saskatchewan/Manitoba, 62 per cent of respondents wanted the definition restricted.

There was an income divide on the question, with those who have a household income of less than $60,000 per year more likely to support a restricted definition (50 per cent) than those with a higher household income (40 per cent).

Respondents weren't asked about their religious beliefs, Wright said.

"We have to presume religion is part of this. The areas within the country that are most vocally opposing this ... are areas that are more socially conservative and where religion has a higher efficacy," he said.

Another major factor is exposure. Areas where people are more exposed to gays and lesbians tend to be more moderate on the issue, he said.

Methodology

The poll was conducted from October 1 to 4. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1,001 adult Canadians were interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.