Borealia is a country in North America, bordered in the North by the Arctic Ocean, in the west by the United States (Alaska) and the Pacific Ocean, in the south by the United States and in the east by Canada.
History
From the establishment of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, Western Canada has always felt different from the rest of the Dominion : much more scarcely populated, rich in natural resources, turned towards the Pacific, more conservative than the rest of the nation, the Prairie felt increasingly more isolated from their fellow provinces, although still united, particularly in light of the increasing agitation for Quebec independence.
The forced passing of the Lake Meech Agreement in 1987 crystallized this bitterness, as Quebec was becoming increasingly special while Anglophone Canada had nothing more, leading to the removal of Prime Minister Peter Lougheed by the Western MPs, as the Provinces endorsed a policy and rhetoric very critical of Ottawa and intensified their links with the neighbouring United States ; the failure of the Charlottetown Accord, that would have toned down the Lake Meech Agreement, and the breakthrough of pro-Western big-tent Reform Party in the 1992 general election, overtaking the Conservative Party to form the official opposition alongside the pro-Western NDP and the Parti Québecois, increased the tension within Canada.
1995 and the unilateral declaration of independence by Quebec proved the final nail in the coffin ; increasing its gains in the 1996 early election and joining the government coalition, the Reform Party, led by Preston Manning, could only watch the breakdown of the negotiations with Quebec and the First Nations, the meltdown of the Canadian economy, and began contingency plans with Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow in order to draw the Western Provinces out of the quagmire. The quagmire came with the 1997 election that failed to produce a majority : after a referendum conducted in the Western Provinces without approval of Ottawa, Romanow, along with his colleagues from Alberta, Yukon and British Colombia, joined forces to proclaim the independence of the “Western Canadian Confederation on 25 November 1997, citing “the increasingly incoherent and autocratic policies of Ottawa” and “the free fall of the Canadian dollar that puts the situation of Western Canadians in jeopardy”. The new elections, one week later, allowed John Manley to lead a new coalition government in Ottawa, that accepted the independances of Quebec and the Western Confederation as a fait accompli, thereby acknowledging the existence of a new country.
Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party and considered as the new nation’s “founding father” became Prime Minister in the 1998 elections and took on nationbuilding until his retirement in 2007: the country took the name of Borealia in 1999 after a referendum, taking a flag inspired by the Nordic Nations in order to reflect the Borealians’ cultural heritage ; the country, deciding to remain in the Commonwealth and to keep the Queen of England as its monarch (a decision enterined by a referendum in 2007), also entered the Havana Treaty Organization and signed a free trade agreement with the United States, aligning the Borealian dollar on the American one and undertaking the building of a canal between the Saskatchewan River and Lake Superior, expected for completion for 2030. Now drawing closer to its 25th anniversary, the nation of Borealia is among the wealthiest of North America, a strategic ally of the United States and sort of a conservative mirror of the remaining Canada.
Political situation
According to its declaration of independence and its Constitution, Borealia is a confederation under a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy ; after independence, the country successfully applied to membership of the Commonwealth and continues to acknowledge Queen Anne II of England as its monarch, represented by a Governor-General, currently Russell Misraty. Inspired by the ideas of Preston Manning, Borealia’s second Prime Minister and “founding father”, the Constitution of Borealia is inspired by the former Constitution of Canada, the United States Constitution and has been described by Manning as “a Triple-E Constitution : elected, equal and effective”. The Prime Minister acts as the head of government and is the leader of the largest party or coalition in Parliament and remains responsible in front of both Houses. The 144-members House of Commons is the lower house of Parliament, elected nationwide for a four-year term, its members being proportionately appointed according to each province, while the 59 members of the Senate are elected in every province for six-year-terms, in separate elections. The Provinces, and their Premiers hold tremendous executive powers according to its Constitution, being virtually able to function separately from the confederal government and having power to have their own laws ; constitutional amendments or nationwide laws, either by parliamentary proposal or by popular initiatives are to be subjected to a referendum, as was the case for the choice between monarchy and republic in 2007. The judiciary system is inspired by English common law.
Apart from a Progressive-Green coalition from 2016 to 2020, the Reform Party, a conservative party, heavily inspired by neoliberal and objectivist ideas, founded by Preston Manning in the 1980s in Canada, has held power in Borealia during its whole existence. The current Prime Minister is Jason Kenney, former Premier of Alberta and former Minister of Defence, who led the Reform Party to a strong majority in the 2020 general election. The ecologist Green Party, heavily present in British Columbia, leads the Official Opposition.
Population and social situation
The seventh biggest country in the world, Borealia is also one of the least densely populated, caught between a continental and subarctic climate hinterland and a coast with a warm oceanic climate with British Columbia and Alberta forming the majority of the population, Vancouver serving as the largest metropolitan area ; Calgary, in Alberta, serves as the capital.
If Borealia had felt increasingly isolated from the rest of Canada, there is an increasing rift between the Prairie, politically conservative, scarcely populated by White Borealians along with First Nations (Saskatchewan has a sizeable Cree Party, representing the interests of the Aboriginals) and depending much on extensive farming and exploitation of natural resources, and British Columbia, very urban, enjoying a cosmopolitan melting pot and a large Chinese community, much more progressive and focused on the protection of the environment, handling much of his seats to the Green Party during elections. A secessionist party for British Columbia enjoys some influence. The neoliberal economic policies enacted by the Manning and Day governments took their toll on access to health care and education due to mass privatizations, with dysfunction observed from time to time, but women’s rights, access to equal pay, reproductive rights and ethnic minorities’ rights are still heavily enforced and is on the same level than the rest of former Canada.
Economy
Holding 13 % of world reserves of oil, 8 % of world reserves of uranium, and being one of the largest net exporters for agricultural products such as potash, wheat and oilseeds, Borealia is a naturally rich country, with the production of energy and agriculture being the dominant industries of the country, relying on its large web of pipelines along with Vancouver’s docks, making the latter one of the most important logistic centres in the world, nevertheless mostly at the expense of the environment, as was seen with the wildfire at Fort McMurray in Alberta in 2016. In keeping with the objectivist streak of the Reform Party, Borealia has followed a policy of mass privatizations for public sectors, giving a laissez-faire orientation to their economy ; this has increased concerns from experts for Borealia to be one day subjected to Dutch disease regarding their oil reserves, as other sectors are not as developed. Many also fear that this reliance on natural resources and trickle-down economics would only increase corruption and social inequalities.
Even if its geographic position allows Borealia to count China, Japan, Russia and Indochina among its trade partners, the number 1 partner of Borealia is their twice neighbour, the United States. Entering the Havana Treaty Organization and a free trade agreement with the USA as soon as the country became independent, the Borelian dollar is indexed directly to its American counterpart and most of its pipelines are connected to the United States, a link that will be further developed by the Saskatchewan-Lake Superior canal, a megaproject of its own heavily funded by the Borelian Confederation and the private sector. This economic dependency, along with cultural resemblance, have led many to call Borealia “the 56th state”, with some experts even forecasting the annexation of Borealia to the United States by 2050.
Military
A member of the Havana Treaty Organization, the World Council and of the Commonwealth, Borealia has converted most of its former Canadian military and law enforcement capacities into their own ones, such as the Royal Borealian Mounted Police, maintaining its traditions and ensuring the functionment of its Army, Navy and Air Force, participating in peacekeeping missions throughout the world. A sensible issue in Borealia has been its law enforcement, with the country, as a major power in the Western Hemisphere, being subjected to political and religious terrorism (2004 Vancouver international airport, 2014 Calgary car bomb attack) but also to organized crime activites from Russian, Chinese, Japanese or bikers’ gangs, engaging in corruption and drug trafficking, aligning itself on the United States for the War on Drugs. A growing concern has also been the amount of racial tensions against the Chinese Borealian community, that devastated downtown Vancouver in 2011 and 2020, most recently due to the Wuchang Pneumonia panic.
Culture
A young nation, Borealia wanted to stress its separate heritage on their flag, inspired by Scandinavian countries in order to point out their Nordic position (as the official name of the country, adopted in 1999, sums it up) and heritage of its inhabitants, with its colors reminding of England, Scotland and Ireland, along with the Polar Star, rainforest and ocean. It Borealia can be proud of its wild and magnificent landscapes, the country concentrates its cultural life in cosmopolitan Vancouver and has yet to find a cultural identity ; British Columbia is a very coveted filming location for Hollywood, and many Borealian celebrities (as actors, one could count Seth Rogen, Nathan Fillion and Kiefer Sutherland) made their career South, emphasizing even more Borealia’s lot as the “56th State” due to cultural interpenetration with the USA.
If a Borealian cultural identity is to be found, it would be in sports, as the country formed its own Hockey and Football leagues (interestingly, it still shares with Canada, Quebec and Newfoundland its soccer league) and Borealian sportsmen are always an attraction in Winter Olympic Games, collecting several events at each event since independence ; the Borealian Ministry of Sports put forward a candidacy for every Winter Olympics since independence, hoping one day to host the event.