Everything old will become new again - that old saying is self-fulfilling. It's especially true in the world of politics.
Governments using their majority may have an accepted route to construct an advantage when it comes to our democracy, but that doesn't make it right.
The word "gerrymandering" recalls an older era when governments rigged riding borders to create the best benefit.
But our current federal government is going a big step beyond what was once considered part of the game.
The latest steps by the Harper government reach beyond the lines of partisanship and into the realm of the franchise that Canadians have come to take for granted.
The ironicially titled Fair Elections Act, or Bill C23, is being roundly criticized by scholars, pundits, the opposition and people from many walks of life - partisan and not.
Described by the government as a means to reform the federal electoral machinery, it has all the handiwork of a trojan horse in the form of a ballot box.
What the Conservatives have put on the table is double layered in its lack of transparency - they want little to no debate on the bill and have mined it with items that would only benefit the party in power.
Taking on just two of its contentious points: the elimination of voter information cards as one piece of eligible identification (but never the only source) would make voting more difficult for students, seniors in care facilities, and First Nations people, and stripping Elections Canada of its ability to safeguard the electoral process and eliminate the role in promoting voter participation.
Emboldened by a majority in the House and having stacked the Senate with yes men, Stephen Harper now has all the leverage to make his home field advantage last.
But the right to vote shouldn't be carved with such an obviously partisan blade.
