The Conservatives lost a skirmish in the House of Commons over same-sex marriage, but the parliamentary war over the emotionally charged subject will continue.

And it's a battle that could spill out of the House of Commons and onto the hustings if federal election rumours prove to be true.

The Conservative Party made a motion Tuesday evening to derail Bill C-38 by saying it failed to recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman. 

The vote was 164-132 against the motion by Tory Leader Stephen Harper.

Had the motion passed, the Conservatives said they would bring in a new bill which reaffirms the traditional definition of marriage -- a union between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.

The motion was expected to fail, mainly because the Liberals expected the backing of the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois on the legislation. They got it.

However, the Tories did get support from roughly three dozen Liberals.

Among the Liberals voting for the bill were Pat O'Brien and David Kilgour. Both men have publicly said they might leave the Liberal caucus over the sponsorship scandal.

Three Bloc MPs voted for the motion, although the vast majority of the sovereigntist party's caucus didn't.

Four Conservatives -- including high-profile MPs Belinda Stronach and James Moore -- voted against it.

NDP caucus members were ordered to vote against the amendment. Bev Desjarlais, an NDP MP from Manitoba who is opposed to same-sex marriage, abstained.

Battle not over

Bill C-38, which would legalize same-sex marriage across Canada, is facing second reading in the House of Commons in the near future.

However, the uproar over the sponsorship scandal and subsequent plunge in Liberal popularity has emboldened the opposition to start thinking about triggering a spring election, possibly as early as mid-May.

If the Liberals fail to form another government after any forthcoming election, Bill C-38 would likely die.

But a gay rights advocacy group warned Tuesday that Harper's anti-same-sex-marriage stance will make him look like a social extremist.

"He wants to say that gays and lesbians are not protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," Alex Munter of Canadians for Equal Marriages said Tuesday on Parliament Hill.

"Those are extreme positions not shared by most Canadians. And in an election campaign, he'll have to answer for those positions.''

The consensus in Canada is narrowly in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry civilly.

There are about 3,000 same-sex married couples in Canada.

Gay marriage is legal in seven provinces and one territory after court decisions found the traditional definition violated the rights of gays and lesbians to equality under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

An Environics poll released Tuesday suggested that 76 per cent of Canadians say it was time for Parliament to settle the issue.

With files from The Canadian Press