Canadians love sex but hate cheating: poll

Pre-marital sex, same-gender sex, contraceptive sex - fine by most of us.

Condom break before you've tied the knot? Have that baby outside marriage or opt for an abortion.

We won't judge.

These are among the findings of a new Angus Reid Strategies poll probing the moral mindsets of Canadians, which, despite our conservative government, appear to be quite liberal.

"Canadians are pretty accepting in general," said chief research officer Andrew Grenville. "They're willing to tolerate in other people behaviour that they themselves don't find morally acceptable."

Regardless of whether or not they thought it should be legal, of the 1,004 adult Canadians who filled out an online survey, 61 per cent found abortion and euthanasia morally acceptable, 59 per cent had no beef with same-sex relations, and 64 per cent thought human embryo stem-cell research was fine.

Relationship faux-pas lines were clearly drawn. Go ahead and have sex before marriage (81 per cent). Have a baby while you're at it (77 per cent). Feel free to use a contraceptive (93 per cent). But don't even think about cheating on your spouse (76 per cent).

After all: Polygamy, bad. Divorce, good. That's according to 84%.

"I think that really is very consistent with tendencies we've been seeing for a long time," said Sumner. "Our attitudes are tending to be more secular than faith-based."

SHE SAID/HE SAID

OK with:

- Divorce: Women 88%, Men 78%

- Porn: Women 25%, Men 51%

- Prostitution: Women 25%, Men 48%