Canada

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Canada

Flag and Coat of Arms of Canada
Motto A Mari Usque Ad Mare (From Sea to Sea)
Anthem God Save The King
Official Languages	English and French
Capital	Ottawa
King	George V
Prime Minister	Mackenzie King
Establishment   - British North America Act	July 1, 1867
Government	Parliamentary federal monarchy
Currency	Canadian dollar
Area	9,984,670 km²
Population	More than 12 millions

Canada is a country in North America. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, in the East, to the Pacific, in the West. The country borders only the United States, in the west with Alaska, and in all its southern border along the 49th parallel. A parliamentary monarchy, Canada is a member of the Entente, the leading country of the Commonwealth and hosts the British Royal Family in exile. A federal country, it is comprised of 10 provinces and 2 territories subject to federal jurisdiction.

History

From Confederation to the Great War

Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled along, the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. Following several constitutional conferences, the Constitution Act, 1867 brought about Confederation creating "one Dominion under the name of Canada" on July 1, 1867, with four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Canada assumed control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to form the Northwest Territories; British Columbia and Vancouver Island and the colony of Prince Edward Island joined Confederation in 1871 and 1873, respectively. Under Liberal Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, continental European immigrants settled the western prairies, and Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905.

Canada automatically entered the Weltkrieg in 1914 with Britain's declaration of war, sending volunteers to the Western Front who later became part of the Canadian Corps. The Corps played a substantial role in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and other major battles of the war. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 erupted when conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden brought in compulsory military service over the objection of French-speaking Quebecers. Proudly serving the Home Isles with Men, Weapons, Food and Material to feed her growing war industries as a loyal Dominion. Canadians were distraught by the retreat from the continent and greatly embittered by the dominance of the German Empire after the Peace with Honour Accords signed by the British and German governments.

Canada after the Great War

Canadian troops returned to their country after the conclusion of the Peace with Honour treaty in 1921. Canadian Prime Minister Robert Laird Borden received column of troops headed by the tenacious and well-beloved Canadian general Sir Arthur Currie, who was esteemed heavily by both the Allies and the Central Powers for his brilliant leadership of the Canadian Corps.

PM Borden, dogged and tired after holding a Union Government together for the duration of the war, appeared visibly strained and prematurely aged as he proclaimed: "I welcome you home from the fields of war, from which you knew no defeat!" Canadian attitudes to the war were divided. While Patriots and Imperialists took comfort some comfort in the fact that the Empire had not been defeated per se, the fact that the war ended in a unfavourable "draw" heavily in Germany's favour kindled great resentment, especially in Quebec where conscription riots and opposition to the war seemed to be justified in the light of German dominance of the European continent.

Upon conclusion of the war, all the Union liberals who had not left the government yet quickly rejoined their fellow party members in the opposition and the government fell apart, divided as to how to take Canada into the future. Former liberal PM Sir Wilfrid Laurier's optimistic prediction that the 20th century would be Canada's century seemed laughable now to most Canadians. Laurier himself had passed away during the war, seemingly taking with him to the grave the sunny prosperity that had affected Canada during his leadership in the late 19th century. Shortly after calling the election, PM Borden lay in his room at the Chateau Laurier and passed away. His last words were of regret that he had never returned to his native Nova Scotia to rejoin the Celtic Diaspora. With many of the heavyweights of the old 19th century and pre-war political traditions dead, Canada weaved in and out of political obscurity and a deep sense of national malaise. All of this would be grimly impacted by the loss of the Home Islands to the 1925 British Revolution.

Canada, leader of the Entente

Syndicalist takeover in the Home Isles proved to be the determining factor in Canadian foreign and internal policy. As expected, thousands of members British nobility, businessmen, right-wing politicians, as well as ordinary but wealthy people, frightened by the perspectives of radical purgings and violences like in France, came into exile to Canada, the only place of the British Empire that was not touched by the revolutionary waves, on the contrary of India, Africa or Australasia. Along with the exiles, the elements of the Royal Army that had not mutinied crossed the Atlantic as well.

The arrival of the exiles made a great upheaval in Canadian political life. After PM King's refusal of letting the British government in exile replace the Canadian government, the office of Governor-General and the Senate were abolished, replaced respectively by King George V himself and the former British House of Lords. The Canadian and Royal Armies were merged under mixed Anglo-Canadian leadership: Canadian politics heavily swift to the right, the Progressives being accused of Syndicalist sympathies and Liberal PM King blamed for not having managed to retain most of the Empire to Syndicalist, nationalist or German takeover. Moreover, the King and the British exiles are quickly accused of interference into Canadian politics, directing them into a rearmement and offensive program conceived for preserving unity of the Empire and preparing the reconquest of the Home Isles. Canadians, who were only beginning to claim their independance in the aftermath of the Great War, view with great discontent the Exiles' influence on their politics, stressing on the declining health of King George, and would rather see their country as the peacekeeper of troubled America, a role that has been abandoned by the isolationist United States. However, all the hopes are now concentrated on the Prince of Wales, who would be the first truly Canadian monarch...Or nothing less than the British King-Emperor in exile?

Politics

Canada is a confederal parliamentary monarchy ruled by the King of the United Kingdom (as the office of Governor-General of Canada was abolished in 1926, its last occupier having been the Baron Byng of Vimy). Parliament is made up of the Crown, an elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords (the former Senate that now hosts the British House of Lords in exile). Each Member of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in an electoral district or riding. General elections must be called by the Prime Minister within five years of the previous election, or may be triggered by the government losing a confidence vote in the House. The House of Lords is comprised by British or Canadian hereditary or appointed members. The main reproach made to the Canadian democratic system is the influence the British Exiles have taken since 1925, officially by the arrival of the King and the Lords in the Upper House, unofficially for the shadowy but effective influence of the Royal Councilliors, the Club members or exiled politicians, all driven by the perspective of a reconquest of the Home Isles and the rest of the Empire or, as PM King dubs it, "The Anglo-Saxon World". Attempts have been made by King so Canada can stay fully Canadian, such as decreeing that Cabinet members had to be absolutely members of the Lower House and nullifying the Upper House, but many fear that Canada become an authoritarian monarchy with the appearence of parliamentary democracy, like Germany. Other reproaches come from the French-speaking inhabitants of Quebec, worried by the growing influence of the British, fearing a confederal system disadvantageous to them, and a lowering influence of Roman Catholics.

The Canadian government

King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and Australasia: George V of Windsor (Federationist, born 3 June 1865)

Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs (Acting Head of State): William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal, born 17 December 1874)

Minister of National Defence: Ian Alistair Mackenzie (Liberal, born 27 July 1890)

Minister of Justice: Ernest Lapointe (Liberal, born 6 October 1876)

Director of Military Operations & Military Intelligence: Henry Crerar (born 28 April 1888)

Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant-General Ernest Charles Ashton (born 28 October 1873)

Chief of the Naval Staff: Admiral Percy Nelles (born 7 January 1892)

Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force: George Croil (born 5 June 1893)

King's policies

The current leading party is the Canadian Liberal Party which, unlike the other Commonwealth countries, has not suffered the setback political liberalism endured after Asquith and Lloyd George have been blamed for the loss of the Great War. Led by PM William Lyon MacKenzie King, not well viewed by the British Lords as the descendant of an anti-British nationalist family: having been Canadian Prime Minister when the British Revolution happened, he has contributed to redifine Canadian politics during the interwar years. Whilst still blaming the British lords and exiles for losing the Empire, he urged peaceful foreign policy based on mutually dependent, integrated economies with other the nations within “The Anglo-Saxon World”, a policy that hasn't been well received by Anglo-Canadian political and military elite aware of Canada's imperial obligations in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Even if he viewed the America First Union Party has a possible railing against American Syndicalism, he has vowed to support the traditionnal parties in place in the American continent, refusing to be the bearer of the "Canadian Big Stick Policy" promoted by some.

He has also implemented a strong anti-Syndicalist policy, taking advantage of the economic upturn and expansion of industrialization that was brought about by the infusion of British gold and technology: fearing a corresponding rise in the workers' protests, he refused to improve their rights and instead repressed with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police the 1925 Winnipeg General Strike, with the backing of Anglo-Canadian elites desiring to stamp out any possibility of another revolution breakout. However the extent that many of the RCMP officers went to shocked many within the Canadian body politic (it was rumoured that the RCMP has been infiltrated by a group of men who are the sons of former members of the old Special Branch), and the Liberals under King reached out to members of the Canadian Commonwealth Federation (CCF) declaring that they were merely ‘Liberals in a hurry.’ King’s charm and reaching out to the left-wing in order to form a united opposition to the Conservatives has resulted in Canadian socialism and liberalism adopting a policy of gradual, legal reform. With this alliance, King was able to win the next federal election and regain the Premiership.

King's only real opposition are the British-backed Conservative Party led by Arthur Meighan and R.B. Bennett after the death of Borden, supported by British pre-Revolution political figures Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Winning the 1930 general elections, the Conservatives have been able to present themselves as the party of Imperial unity. The endorsement of King George V, blatantly meddling in Canada’s political affairs seals the election for Bennett whose cabinet is 100% Canadian. However, Bennett relies on the financial, political and philosophical guidance of British Exiles who exist in a ‘shadow cabinet’ of Canada’s traditional clubs for the Elite such as the Empire Club in Toronto, the Orange Order of Ontario and the Chateau Clique in Montréal. Even under the Liberal government of King, the Army and Navy staffs were packed with many of Britain’s top generals and admirals. Though a few generals such as Vanier (the top ranking French Canadian in the army), Crerar and McNaughton have attained positions of influence in the army, the Navy is firmly in the hands of British admirals. The Air Force is the only Canadian institution to remain almost equally divided between Canadians and British Exiles. Proclaiming that the ultimate goal of Canada is the reclaimation of Britain, Bennett recalls much of the British Fleet from the Pacific and the entire South African station, causing great resentment in the other Dominions and wages a inconclusive (though popular) war of skirmishes with the Syndicalist Navy in the Atlantic. While the Navy seems well prepared to renew the war against the Union of Britain, the Canadian army remains small and is in need or reorganization if it is to become capable of forcing a landing in Britain. Many Canadian officers look enviously at the Australasian army, which is no more advanced, but is larger, better organized and better led as several of the more progressive British generals settled in Australasia. Such a policy led the Conservatives to lose in 1935.

King has met with great success in rallying the forces of Canadian liberalism by painting Meighan as a yes-man to the British lords. The Progressives, soon accused of Syndicalist tendancies, saw their influence fall quickly in Canada. While King’s policies are clearly constructed in view of how much the Canadian people will tolerate, his oppurtunism and accumulation of political alliances among the respectable members of the Left has built a powerful counterpoint to conservatives such as Arthur Meighen and R.B. Bennett. As dangerous as it seems, King is no fool. While his eccentricities are well known, he maintains an iron grip on his party’s discipline and arranges for himself to carry a safe riding every election.

Relations between the PM and Canada's Royal Family

Relations with the Royal family are strained. The King has no time for the Liberal leader, leading wags in the press to talk about the war between the "Kings of Canada". The Prince of Wales, the darling of Canada’s media, finds King to be nothing but a mere colonial and spends most of his time putting in valuable facetime for the Monarchy in Canada, especially in Quebec where he is doing his best to woe the French Canadians with his charm. His brother Albert however, possessed of a powerful sense of duty, has granted King a great deal of mutual respect, if not public endorsement, especially in regards to King’s contention that each British Dominion is a separate state with equal rights within a larger Empire, each with its separate crown for its head of state.

The other sons of King George V, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent have kept a low profile in the Canadian public life, though the Duke of Kent’s interest in the development of airpower has lead to his active engagement and elevation within the Royal Canadian Airforce. He has been instrumental in establishing a Inter-service Air Training Program in the Province of Alberta where pilots from all over the Empire, the Pacific, the Caribbean and even some from India. While some dismiss it as a costly and inefficient pet project, many are beginning to seriously consider expanding the Duke's scheme on a National, perhaps even an International, level .Henry has remained in the army and patronizes the Royal Military College in Kingston as an honorary colonel. It is suspected that he will be dispatched to one of the other Dominions as Governor-General to increase the connection between the Crown and its subjects.

The Quebec Question

In the French Majority province of Quebec, Maurice Duplessis, as leader of the paternal-authoritarian-like Union Nationale, stands unopposed in provincial politics. He has successfully eliminated overt support for syndicalism and ensured the survival of the Catholic identity of Quebec. His party has used the election slogan "Survival" in every provincial election to paint the Quebecer self-image as a religious struggle for God. Duplessis however has been more than willing to let Anglo companies build branch plants within Quebec and build up an impressive commercial presence so long as they did not allow unions and did not try to intervene in politics at all. He has even allowed some of them to have English-only workplaces. He maintains cheerful and amicable relations with the corrupt and patronage driven government of Mitch Hepburn, the scandalous "Liberal" premier of Ontario.

In light of the fall of the Empire, Duplessis has enhanced relations with the Italian federation and its dominant Catholic political culture, especially in hopes that a weak pope will be elected when the current incumbent dies. If such an election took place and the Pontiff would not interfere with Quebec, Duplessis is eager to maintain his close alliance with the Catholic Church. The Church essentially runs education and social welfare as a result of this arrangement and very few Quebecois receive a higher education. Duplessis also maintains a relationship with National France, not because of a kinship to the European French (whom many Quebecois accuse of abandoning them to the English), but to stamp out any possible Syndicalist infiltration by Commune agents. Assuming a strong Pope, Duplessis may be forced to reconsider his alliance as he would not want the Holy Father looking over his shoulder. King has long given up on trying to engineer a liberal government for the Province of Quebec and both Conservative and Liberal governments have refrained from interfering in Quebec politics so long as Duplessis does not stoke disloyalty or interferes with Federal politics.

Military

Canadian infantrymen aboard a destroyer ship, near Alberta Training Camp

The Battle of Vimy Ridge is one of Canada's proudest moments from the Great War. Succeeding where British and French forces had failed, Canadian troops dislodged an entrenched and skilled contingent of German troops from Vimy Ridge under the brilliant leadership of Canadian general Sir Arthur Currie. This victory was attributed to the use of underground sapping, rolling artillery barrages and informing NCO's and rank soldiers of the battle's objectives so in event of commanding officers being killed, the mission could still go ahead. Canadian newspapers lauded the troops while the soldiers themselves wrote home enthusiastically to state that Canada had been born on the fields of Vimy, an equal to England and all her other allies. Because of this battle, Canadian soldiers are now considered some of the most elite soldiers on the face of the Earth.

Army

After the Canadian army had returned from England there was a quick demobilization of forces to quell some of the concerns that Quebec had because of conscription. For the next four years the Canadian military was downsized. The revolution of 1925 changed the military priorities of Canada and the military increased in size again. The Canadian army was not in a position to assist with an immediate attack on the home isles. Canadian hero Georges Vanier returned to the army in 1926 and joined the Royal Command Staff under Edmund Ironside. A reorganization of the army began in 1927 to accomodate the influx of British officers from around the empire and focused on infantry combat using the experience of Vanier who pioneered the counter to Ludendorfs stormtroopers known as "Reverse Infiltration". The army was brought back to a fighting strength by 1936 but it lacked modern equipment and manpower was a major issue.

Navy

The Canadian navy had been almost completely demobilized by the time of the 1925 revolution. When the Royal Navy broke the socialist blockade and evacuated the Royal Family it was able to escape to Canada. Overnight Canada became a major naval power. In 1928 the Royal Navy, under the guidance of Admiral Keyes, began an ambitious building program to bring the Royal Navy up to a modern fighting level. All the naval services were expanded and improved with the emphasis being put on long range ships. In 1933 Admiral Horatio Nelson Lay successfully argued for the inclusion of large fleet carriers to be added to the building program and Harry DeWolf, Canada's submarine pioneer, argued for the inclusion of modern submarines citing German successes in the last war. Keyes was unimpressed with the idea but the submarines were easy to manufacture and could roam in secrecy to do reconnaisance of Union of Britain fleet movements, he was eventually overruled by the Prime Minister. By 1936 the production of the Royal Navy continued and two new carriers were layed down and the Royal Navy had also setup a base in Karachi.

Air Force

Canadian troops parading

After the war in Europe the services were demobilized and only casual flying was being done in Canada. When the Royal Air Force command staff arrived in Canada in 1925 the future looked bright for the Canadian air services but instead the commanders were unable to decide how the service should be handled. Canadians like Billy Bishop wanted the airforce to be a Canadian run service but the British commanders refused to work under Canadians. The prioritization of the Navy had significantly reduced the resources available to the service and by 1930 both the RAF and RCAF were running independent of each other and being commanded loosely by the Royal Command Staff in Ottawa. Bishop and Hugh Trenchard were consistently at odds over the design of the airforce and by 1936 only a few air wings had been brought up to fighting strength.

In comparison to the problems of the RAF and RCAF, the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service was one of Canada's best military services. It was demobilized like the other services after the war but with the expansion program of the navy in 1928 the expansion of the service as being a support element for the navy begun. The introduction of the aircraft carriers to the naval program was a major boon for the RCNAS and unlike the traditional airforce there was no question this would be a Canadian run service. Admiral Lay and Billy Bishop worked together to make a flying service for the Royal Navy with the emphasis on pilot skill. The RCNAS is not the most professional service in the Canadian military but Royal Navy captains are more than willing to overlook infractions simply to keep these skilled aviators in the skies above them happy. By 1936 the RCNAS was considered the best servcie in the military, as well as the highest paying, but also lacked modern equipment.

Foreign relations

Abroad, the old Boer nemesis in South Africa has resurfaced. South Africa was the one Dominion of the Old Empire to receive only a trickle of Exiles and the share of the spoils they were able to save from Britain was miniscule. Even King may not be able to bring the South African’s back into the Empire, though he hopes that they will at least remain as an associated power and maintain the preferential trading agreements that see many of South Africa’s raw materials head to feed Canada’s large industrial appetite.

The British Naval Station in Delhi remains strong enough to be threatening, but too weak to maintain Order in the Indian Ocean and is growing old in the face of the German Naval Squadron based at Ceylon, the Canadians maintain it to keep a link with the aging British technocrats in the Delhi government.

The fall of the Old Empire and the rebellion of several subject peoples has resulted in a great deal of racism in Canada and Australasia against people who are visibly Non-British, and the Conservative party, back when it was still in power, urged the Australasians to deploy a sizable portion of its army to Delhi to “keep the natives in line”. This further antagonized the rocky relationship between Canberra and Ottawa, and King astutely dropped the matter. While they are not Anglo-Saxon, King has made a point of declaring on no less than 7 public occasions that India has “been a part of the Empire longer than most of Canada and that there exists a special place for them, side by side with their fellow citizens of the Empire…” The fact that King used the word citizens, as opposed to subjects has caused a great deal of debate over the future of the Empire in political circles. With the advent of more sophisticated communication technology, many proponents of a global federation of Imperial British states is gaining more prominence within Liberal circles, especially as it would place a reclaimed Britain on an equal footing with Canada within such a political arrangement.

While R.B Bennet and the British elites wanted to also recapture Ireland, King has embarked on a policy of reconciliation with the “Lost Dominion.” In the event of war, King have suggested sending a diplomatic offer to Michael Collins that offers a public, binding, international decree by the British crown to recognize the sovereignty of the Irish Republic and a vow to never violate that sovereignty, and in return for port rights and airstrips in Ireland to carry out the war against the UoB.

Culture