My understanding is that the Federal Government isn't capable of not requiring a marriage they choose to legitimize to be recognized nationwide, because marriage is actually entirely under federal jurisdiction (except, I think, that the provincial governments get to decide who has marriage licenses). So if the definition under federal law is changed, the law in Alberta can be no exception, and it would be illegal and possibly unconstitutional for that province to ignore this (unless, of course, they invoke the notwithstanding clause, which would be... Kind of yucky).


-Garran