Money for nothing, chicks for free

Before we start getting all verklempt about Canada being some bastion of free-thinking, equal-rights bastion of North America, here's where the other show drops, and it ain't Prada.

The conservative Tories up Canada way are trying to delay the vote on same-sex marriage legalization by bribing the majority Liberal party, saying they won't filibuster the $4.6 billion budget bill if the vote on C-38 can wait until fall.

The Tories have threatened to shove 90 mouths up on the dais to delay the budget but are willing to back off if the same-sex marriage question -- which seems sure of passage -- were delayed instead.

But in Halifax, there's no talk of delays as the first gay wedding in the Canadian military came off without -- or, I guess, with -- a hitch. Two men, a sergeant and a warrent officer, were married by a United Church minister because the base chaplain, Lt-Cmdr. David Greenwood, is Anglican and can't officiate same-sex vows. He did, however, help to arrange the service and preached during the ceremony.