Go North, Young Man: The Great Canada

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Did the CPR build a line through the Crowsnest Pass? I imagine they would with coal in southern Alberta discovered in the 1870s IIRC, which also makes me wonder if steel production would be practical in the province.
 
Perhaps Newfoundland will be allowed to go its own way?

Not sure on that one. Newfoundland was fairly prosperous during the 1910s to 1930s and only gave up its own government because of the crippling problems that the Depression caused. Here cultural advancement and evolving government will give a reason for Newfoundland to join and economics could tilt the balance either way.
 
Did the CPR build a line through the Crowsnest Pass? I imagine they would with coal in southern Alberta discovered in the 1870s IIRC, which also makes me wonder if steel production would be practical in the province.

The CPR did build through Crowsnest Pass in the later 1880s, and the Northern Pacific connected into the area from the south, which would later on provide a bypass route for the congested CPR mainline, as the Northern Pacific builds across Stampede Pass over the Cascades, shortening it's route.

I'm thinking that Alberta will contain some heavy industry but the difficulty in markets for the steel will eventually result in Canada's steel mills being in Ontario, both in Hamilton and some further north in the mining belt. North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay are gonna be rather bigger cities in this world. Alberta will, however, have a much more diversified economy than OTL, and lots of money available.
 
This looks awesome. Your Canadian Power TL is what got me into AH so I'm excited to see what you do.

Not sure on that one. Newfoundland was fairly prosperous during the 1910s to 1930s and only gave up its own government because of the crippling problems that the Depression caused. Here cultural advancement and evolving government will give a reason for Newfoundland to join and economics could tilt the balance either way.

Honestly I would be surprised if Newfoundland doesn't join Canada by the end of the 1900s do to Canada's stronger economy. The reason that it didn't join confederation was because of a feeling of isolation from the rest of the continent. A stronger Canadian economy means more trade which means closer relations. It would also be better for Newfoundland. It wouldn't suffer from years of incompetent and corrupt leadership.
 
This looks awesome. Your Canadian Power TL is what got me into AH so I'm excited to see what you do.

I love hearing stuff like that, people get into AH because of something I doodled out. I'm flattered. :)

Honestly I would be surprised if Newfoundland doesn't join Canada by the end of the 1900s do to Canada's stronger economy. The reason that it didn't join confederation was because of a feeling of isolation from the rest of the continent. A stronger Canadian economy means more trade which means closer relations. It would also be better for Newfoundland. It wouldn't suffer from years of incompetent and corrupt leadership.

To be fair, the corrupt leadership and the huge financial costs of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and the Newfoundland Railway were to come in 1900, though I agree that Confederation really is just a matter of when - it would be around now in the TL, the Great Depression, post-WWII or it could be in the 1980s when the crumbling Cod fisheries force an economic crisis. I'm leaning towards that happening as a result of the Depression, because Newfoundland was made effectively bankrupt by the poor financial management of the 1920s and it would be better for Canada to be able to handle the issues themselves, and would allow the Royal Newfoundland Regiment to serve as part of the Canadian Army in Big Mistake No. 2.
 
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To be fair, the corrupt leadership ...... could be in the 1980s when the crumbling Cod fisheries force an economic crisis. ............

Newfys blamed the collapse of the cod fishery on Portugese and Polish and American boats strip-mining the Grand Banks.
If the RCN, CCG and federal fisheries boats had devoted more effort to chasing off foreign fishing vessels - than chasing Russian submarines - Newfys would respect Ottawa much more.
Maybe if the RCN recruited more Newfy fishermen .....

As for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment ..... it suffered horrendous casualties - as infantry - during the First Great Unpleasantness. Newfyland lost a generation of young men in Flanders Fields.
During the Second Great Unpleasantness, the RNR was re-badged as artillery and only suffered moderate casualties.
 
To be fair, the corrupt leadership ...... could be in the 1980s when the crumbling Cod fisheries force an economic crisis. ............

I doubt Newfoundland could last as an independent country to the 80s. Before the discovery of the oil on the grand banks, Newfoundland survived on equalisation payments from Ottawa. I can't really see an independent Newfoundland lasting longer than the early 60s. Personally I think that Newfoundland will be joining confederation early in this TL which is good because it means that the war debt that broke Newfoundland will become Canada's responsibility and they could have handled it pretty easily.
 
Newfoundland's independence streak is why I didn't have them join Confederation on Day One, and that same pride is why they spent the money and lives on the RNR. I'm not sure how to counteract that, really. I agree that having Newfoundland as part of Canada earlier on is probably desirable, but I'm not sure how the independence streak plays into that.
 
The last PM of Newfoundland, Richard Squires actually asked Canada if Newfoundland could join confederation in 1933 after the rioters in St. Johns tried to burn down parliament and kill Squires. Obviously, Canada didn't feel like getting involved in that mess and refused. If someone else is in office and they are a bit more charitable then they might accept Newfoundland into confederation
 
The last PM of Newfoundland, Richard Squires actually asked Canada if Newfoundland could join confederation in 1933 after the rioters in St. Johns tried to burn down parliament and kill Squires. Obviously, Canada didn't feel like getting involved in that mess and refused. If someone else is in office and they are a bit more charitable then they might accept Newfoundland into confederation

In 1933 in the midst of the Depression, with Newfoundland's debt at the time being something like 300% of its GDP? Nobody sane would go for that. It'll have to be earlier I think. Had the thought of he 1890s negotiations end with Newfoundland's entry into confederation, contingent on economic development and Canada footing the bill for the Newfoundland Railway. Would that work?
 
In 1933 in the midst of the Depression, with Newfoundland's debt at the time being something like 300% of its GDP? Nobody sane would go for that. It'll have to be earlier I think. Had the thought of he 1890s negotiations end with Newfoundland's entry into confederation, contingent on economic development and Canada footing the bill for the Newfoundland Railway. Would that work?

Yeah that would work fine. Newfoundland's independence streak was more about not really gaining much from being part of Canada. Here, there is definitely a gain which is getting Canada to build a railroad. Newfoundland is not even an independent dominion at this point this so I don't there would be to much public outcry as long as the benefits are clear.

The only issue that you could run into is with Labrador. I'm not sure how big of a deal that would be for Canada since it would become part of Canada once Newfoundland joins anyway and Quebec wouldn't have Ungava by this point so they probably wouldn't kick up to big of a fuss.
 
And I think we have a PoD.

We sorta do. I wanna start from Laurier in 1887, but I had to set a little groundwork first. I wanted to have the native community in North America be on Canada's side, and I kinda needed to both have the British think higher of them and them be part of Canadian society later on.
 
1887's good. One question. Wouldn't it make sense to put this in the Before 1900 section?

I wonder what the effects of a more inclusive state would be this early on. I'd imagine there'd be some backlash among US conservatives, not to mention concern in Britain and the rest of the empire.
 
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This TL looks good and I'll be following it. I do find the initial POD to be a bit vague for my liking. What exactly prompts the British/Native Americans to take different views than OTL and allow for the additional migration? That seems like a rather large shift in attitudes on both sides IMO.

What about having your POD be a British victory at the Battle of the Thames where Tecumseh lives and Harrison dies? (I wrote a more detailed scenario if you're interested, but few people know the details of the Battle of the Thames so I doubt it's relevance to our current discussion.) Thus Tecumseh's confederacy does not collapse and results in the Native Americans getting a slightly better shake in the Treaty of Ghent and have a better reputation in Canada proper. I could see this POD being enough to prompt the kind of immigration you speak of, especially if Tecumseh travels south to the Creeks and continues his personal war against the Americans. Tecumseh dies, but by the time it does his confederacy in Upper Canada is established enough to attract further Native American immigration.
 
PoD that early could change a whole lot of things. Britain's attitude to other indigenous cultures (India),
Anglo American relations. American internal politics.
 
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