OTTAWA

Canadians are hurtling toward an ugly collision with democracy in 2015.

Condemnation of the government’s election bill is now so widespread, the perception that this is an exercise in voter suppression and loaded with Conservative advantage so pervasive, that anything short of a sweeping Tory majority in the next federal election will face charges of taint.

That sweeping victory is hard to envision from this perch at this point.

Every close race will be subjected to charges of a tilted playing field or disenfranchised voters. The process itself is sure to become an election issue and, while results may stand, the only sure thing is a further erosion in Canadians’ already tenuous trust in our electoral system.

The only way around a discredited outcome and Florida- or Ohio-style charges and countercharges is a government that will finally agree to major and substantial amendments to the legislation.

We are now at a tipping point and the clock is ticking.

The elections act is a classic case of a majority government dumping a huge bill on the country, sounding the starting gun on its passage and trying to get ahead of everyone with obfuscating talking points.

But, in this case, the strategy has not worked because this is a rare example of legislation that has pierced the capital bubble and drawn attention across the country, largely because it deals with one of our most cherished rights, our franchise.

Opposition has far transcended the usual political noise on Parliament Hill.

One can expect opposition leader Tom Muclair to talk about the Conservatives “proven history of cheating” and accuse Stephen Harper of now “trying to front-load his cheating” for 2015.

One can expect Liberal leader Justin Trudeau to charge Conservatives are trying to suppress constituencies that would vote for other parties; youth, aboriginals, the marginalized.

It is the number of non-partisan experts who have come forward to discredit the bill and raise alarms about its effect that has Harper and Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre under siege.

A new voice entered the debate Thursday and this one may prove to be the catalyst for change.

It is not just the reputation that former auditor general Sheila Fraser enjoys, it is not just her non-partisan bona fides, it is the words she chose in an interview with Canadian Press reporter Joan Bryden which shook Ottawa.

She called the Harper bill an “attack on democracy,” which would take the vote away from thousands of Canadians, weaken the chief electoral watchdog, hurt investigations into wrongdoing and give a financial advantage to established parties with money (read Conservatives).

“Elections are the base of our democracy and if we do not have truly a fair electoral process and one that can be managed well by a truly independent body, it really is an attack on our democracy and we should all be concerned about that,’’ Fraser said.

Most of the opposition has revolved around the removal of vouching — where an elector can vote if another swears to their identity — in favour of one of 39 accepted pieces of ID, and removing the Chief Electoral Officer’s role in promoting voting.

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But there are other measures that appear to stack the deck.

A party no longer has to expense any outreach to previous donors, a move which would appear to give advantage to Conservatives. Those calls can mobilize voters.

It also gives the party which won a riding the right to nominate the poll supervisors for that riding.

A parade of witnesses continue to appear before a Parliamentary committee, pensioners, aboriginals, former national and provincial election officers, pointing the flaws in the bills and the barriers to voting it erects.

Thursday, Peter Dinsdale of the Assembly of First Nations, said the bill is a step backward in efforts to engage aboriginals in the national voting process, because the elimination of vouching will be particularly felt in remote northern communities where street addresses are not used.

But Teresa Edwards of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, put it more succinctly.

“Is this really democracy or is the intent to limit aboriginal voting in the next election?”

The unelected Senate is pre-studying the bill and will likely begin committee hearings on the bill before the Easter break.

The Commons committee is to report by May 1.

The government wants this bill enshrined in law by the time the Commons rises for the summer break in June. The clock is ticking.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca Twitter:@nutgraf1

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