Alternate History Podcast about Canada

Hi everyone,

I've just started an alternate history podcast about Canada - Counterfactual Canuck.

The first two episodes are up and available on Apple, Spotify, Stiticher and TuneIn. I hope to have more out every week or two.

There's more information here as well:
Twitter: @CounterfactualC
 
Just posted a new episode today:

"What if Canada and the Americas had been Uninhabited" - looking at Harry Turtledove's A Different Flesh and exploring this scenario (and discussing my issues with it).

Quick synopsis of my first two episodes:

1. "Introduction and the Province of Vancouver Island" - a quick introduction to the podcast followed by speculating on Vancouver Island becoming a province of its own within Canada.

2. "Indigenous Nations and Civilizations" - This is a discussion of Canada without the Columbian Exchange and no contact between the Old World and the New World. What would Canada and the Americas then look like?

 
I listened to your Vancouver Island podcast and I think you missed the obvious POD of Confederation beginning 3 years earlier and having Canada take on the Vancouver Island debt. It's much easier than the multifaceted POD of avoiding multiple gold rushes.

The preamble made me roll my eyes and I think you could do without, but different strokes for different folks. Interesting work though.
 
I listened to your Vancouver Island podcast and I think you missed the obvious POD of Confederation beginning 3 years earlier and having Canada take on the Vancouver Island debt. It's much easier than the multifaceted POD of avoiding multiple gold rushes.

The preamble made me roll my eyes and I think you could do without, but different strokes for different folks. Interesting work though.

Thanks for your feedback and having a listen - hadn't considered the idea of making Confederation earlier (before the merger of the two colonies).
 
Episode # 4 was posted last night.

This one is called "No Canada Part 2: Other Contact & Colonization".

It focuses on the idea of the first contact from the Old World to the New World coming from somewhere other than Europe - East Asia being the most likely candidate.
 
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Episode # 5 was posted last night.

This one is called "A more Francophone Canada, Part 1: France Ascendant".

I look at the idea of France coming out on top in the colonial battle for Canada and Canada becoming a majority-Francophone nation.

 
Episode #6 was posted this morning.

This one is called "No Canada, Part 3: Other European Colonization".

What if someone other than France or England had been involved or taken the lead in exploring and settling Canada?

 
Episode # 7 was posted this morning.

This one is called "16th Century Potpourri, Ottoman Edition".

In this one I do a set of three mini-scenarios that are roughly connected to one another. They focus on the idea of halting or altering the course of European colonization of the Americas and Canada and I manage to shoehorn the Ottoman Empire into two of them.

 
Episode # 8 was posted over the weekend.

This one is called "Canada and Big History: A Passage to Asia"

For this episode, I step back from the counterfactual narrative of Canadian history to look at Big History and what could be called cosmic counterfactuals. After a brief overview of what Big History is, there are a couple of general, non-Canadian scenarios followed by a Canada-centered scenario around the idea of a Passage to Asia around or through North America.

 
Episode # 9 was posted yesterday.

This one is called "17th Century Potpourri, English and French edition"

In this episode, I look at a number of scenarios involving France and England for the first three-quarters of the 17th century. These focus more on Europe, with some ramifications for North America.

 
Episode # 10 was posted on Monday (bit of a delay after getting sick as well as a schedule change to Monday.)

This one is called "17th Century Potpourri, Indigenous edition".

This is another potpourri episode about the 17th century, this time focusing on Indigenous nations. The bulk of the episode concerns the Beaver/Iroquois/Haudenosaunee wars, but there are a couple of broader-picture scenarios as well.

 
Episode # 5 was posted last night.

This one is called "A more Francophone Canada, Part 1: France Ascendant".

I look at the idea of France coming out on top in the colonial battle for Canada and Canada becoming a majority-Francophone nation.


I hope this won't comes off as too condescending but that was a refreshingly even-handed treatment of the matter coming from an anglo-canadian.
 
I hope this won't comes off as too condescending but that was a refreshingly even-handed treatment of the matter coming from an anglo-canadian.
Thanks for the feedback - I'm glad you liked the episode (and your note didn't sound condescending at all).

Like I briefly touched upon in the episode, I grew up with a lot of those Anglo stereotypes about Quebecois/French-Canadians and it's something I hope to avoid in presenting an alternate history of Canada - I plan to do another more Francophone Canada episode in a few weeks.
 
Episode # 11 was posted this morning.

This one is called "The Dismal Science: The Early Fur Trade and Rupert’s Land"

This episode turns the focus onto economics and early Canada, looking at the beginnings of the fur trade and the creation of Rupert's Land.

 
Got a little behind on things, but I had put out two episodes in the last couple of weeks:

Episode # 12 - "The Wars of Kings and Queens: William and the Great Peace of Montreal"

This episode starts off the Second Hundred Years' War between France and England and how it impacted Canada, focusing on The War of the League of Augsburg, King William's War, and the Great Peace of Montreal that happened in the aftermath.

Episode # 13 - "A Lack of Industry: Malthus was right"

This one is more big picture, looking at the idea of the industrial revolution not happening and the world experiencing a depopulation event or a Malthusian catastrophe at the beginning of the 18th century.

 
New Episode up this morning:

Episode # 14 - "The Wars of Kings and Queens: Anne and Father Rale"

I continue the Wars of Kings and Queens in this episode, recapping the War of the Spanish Succession and Queen Anne’s War before ending with Father Rale’s War afterwards.

 
New episode went up on Monday:

Episode # 15 - "Slavery in Canada"

I look at the history of slavery in Canada, both African and Indigenous, and then propose some counterfactuals around this.

 
New episode up today (bit later due to the time of year):

Episode # 16 - "The Wars of Kings and Queens: The Fox, An Alliance, Jenkins' Ear and George"

I continue the Wars of Kings and Queens in this episode, covering a number of conflicts large and small including the Fox Wars, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the War of the Austrian Succession and King George's War, as well as a brief period of Franco-British friendship.

 
There's been a couple of new episodes from the last few weeks - just haven't had a chance to update things:

Episode # 17 - "A More Francophone Canada, Part 2: No Acadian Expulsions"

This episode both continues the Wars of Kings and Queens with an examination of Father Le Loutre's War in the early 1750s, a conflict that then led into the Expulsion of the Acadians starting in 1755. I then image a more Francophone Canada in which the Expulsions didn't happen.

Episode # 18 - "The Big One, Part 1: The French and Indian War and the limits to counterfactuals"

This is the beginning of a three-part series on what I'm dubbing "The Big One", that is, the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, and the fall of Quebec and New France to the British.

After an overview of the war, I discuss how even if the French and their Indigenous allies had won this particular war, it may not have greatly changed the ultimate outcome of history in North America, at least not in the big picture.

As well, I put up an introductory note and then the first episode of a series called "Counterfactual Puck'", which looks at hockey and alternate history. If you're interested in hockey, you can check this out as well.


 
New episode up this week:

Episode # 19 - "The Big One, Part 2: The World War of the Seven Years' War"

This is the second part of three-part series on the worldwide conflicts that led to the fall of New France and one of the biggest early moments in Canadian history.

This episode largely focused on Europe with an examination of the Seven Years' War, with then a quick review of conflicts outside of Europe and North America, and, of course, some counterfactuals around all this.

I'd also put up a Counterfactual Puck episode a couple of weeks back on the 1982 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

 
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