In BC, a common-law marriage occurs after living together as spouses for 24 or more consecutive months, and a legal marriage occurs as easily as two adults buying the license and hiring a marriage commissioner.
Common-law spouses don’t need a divorce, they just need to physically separate as spouses. But if you were legally married, then you remain married until divorced even if not living together for years! It’s now easy to have two spouses - the ex you legally married but never divorced plus your common-law spouse. Two is not better than one with the legal liability for alimony and asset division!