MPs voted 164 to 137 on Wednesday night to send the controversial legislation to a parliamentary committee for review. The bill now goes to public hearings before third and final reading.
But to become a law it would need royal assent before any election.
The issue has become divisive within the Liberal party, because a number of MPs oppose the legislation on religious and moral grounds.
Last month, a Conservative motion to kill the legislation failed. But a total of 34 backbench Liberal MPs voted to kill their own party's legislation.
To appease them, Prime Minister Paul Martin promised to create a special legislative committee that would take another look at the potential impact of the legislation.
Many wonder whether the bill will ever make it back to the House. The threat of a spring election hasn't prodded the Liberals to try to rush the bill.
Some Liberal MPs, particularly from Ontario, admit they wouldn't mind if the bill quietly dies before a vote, fearing their constituents oppose the legislation.
A recent CBC poll suggests Canadians are deeply divided on the issue, with slightly more than half saying they disagreed with the Liberal government's plan to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
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