Rupert's Land in this Scenario?

[Helios Ra]

I have been working on a project based on a POD during the early stages of the Seven Years' War. Progress is slow, because I am lazy and at times crippled with doubt about plausibility, which is why I'm posting this here.
My current (very rough) draft has Great Britain recieve Cuba in exchange for Minorca and the British-held Florida and Phillipines. It also takes New France, excepting Louisiana, which is ceded to Spain as OTL, but including St. Pierre and Miquelon.

So that should roughly explain the colonial situation in the Americas. A similar pattern of enforcement of existing laws, new taxes, and similar "abuses" cause the *American Revolution.
Increased immigration by New Englanders to the Nova Scotia and failure to initiate reforms by the colonial government (which, as I understand it, was one of the main reasons it didn't join in OTL) result in it joining the rebellion.
Measures attempting to make Quebec English rather than French results in a native independence movement seperate from the other colonies.
So as far as colonial politics goes, I'll quote from my draft:

On one side, loyal [Anglophone] colonials seeking no change, moderates who argue for an OTL Canadian-style self-government agreement, and republican nationalists arguing for the severing of ties with Great Britain and the establishment of one or more republics in the place of the colonies.
In the Province of Quebec there are three different sides, in order of size and influence. One side seeking the independence of Canada (torn between republicans and monarchists), another the re-establishment of French rule, and a very small minority advocating joining a potential republic with the English speaking colonists to the south.

It may be worth noting that in the end republicans win in the ideological battle for Canada (Quebec), but it makes some special concesssions to France in its constitution.

I've done even less work on the warfare of the American and Canadien Revolutions than on the *Seven Years' War, but this is most of North America in roughly the mid 1780s. The Ohio Country is still disputed by the Americans, and is a source of conflict. There is a higher concentration of Anglophones south of the St. Lawrence River in Canada than OTL as well.


So to finally get to my main point, how will Great Britain treat its remaining territory in Rupert's Land? Much of the Hudson Bay is frozen for about half the year as I understand it, so as a settler colony it may be cost-prohibitive if contact can only be made with the settlers through foreign countries half of the year. What may become of the land then? Would the fur trade remain profitable enough to justify the Hudson Bay Company's operations rather than being sold to Canada or the *USA?
If it was deemed suitable for being settled, I could see attempts made to send Loyalists there. I say attempts because I suspect most would rather be sent to Cuba or back to Great Britain or Ireland.

Also, if there are any elements to my above statements that you find questionable, I will answer, and if there are any elements to my answers please criticize them. I don't want to make a crappy timeline.

 

[corditeman]

Gordon Bennett! Isn't this ASB?

Hudson's Bay Company operated seasonally to its Factories, but the trappers worked all the year round. No obstacles there - in fact, their competitors on the Great Lakes would be inhibited.

In the long term you've created a conflict zone - Britain's Navy would isolate the St. Lawrence coast Quebecois from the USA and probably make the St. Lawrence the Canadian boundary. Niagara Falls is a more serious obstacle to navigation.

France may beef, but it's out of the running by this time - the real disputes will be between the UK and the USA.

 

[Umbric Man]

Americans would never let the NW territory be given to the Canadians-prime estate that the Francophones really wouldn't cross over for with their own wider lands to settle, especially if they get Ontario.

 

[corditeman]

Fromage Dure...

The moment the US tries to nick Quebecois lands, there will be alliance with Anglophone Canadians. Whilst I hear a lot about Independent Quebec, I never hear anything about Quebec as a State of the Union.

Any comments, folks?

 

[Zuvarq]

I've come up with this scenario before...kind of (really, just the map) but I always tried to have the POD in the 1770s.

Hopefully you can make this realistic because I've always like the idea of an independent Quebec with the territoires du Sud-Ouest (or according to the heretic Brits, the Northwest Territories).

Americans would never let the NW territory be given to the Canadians-prime estate that the Francophones really wouldn't cross over for with their own wider lands to settle, especially if they get Ontario.

But would the Americans really expect to get that land in the first place? In OTL, did the American revolutionaries expect to get that huge swath of inland land that they ended up getting?

 

[Helios Ra]

Hudson's Bay Company operated seasonally to its Factories, but the trappers worked all the year round. No obstacles there - in fact, their competitors on the Great Lakes would be inhibited.

Yes, but is the fur trade worth holding it long-term rather than selling it? As far as I know it declined during the nineteenth century due to overhunting, and any attempts to colonize the land fully would be difficult, requiring either a large amount of self-governence or some kind of agreement with *Canada to allow British settlers to travel through on their way to new farmlands, neither of which I can see Great Britain/the UK permitting.

In the long term you've created a conflict zone - Britain's Navy would isolate the St. Lawrence coast Quebecois from the USA and probably make the St. Lawrence the Canadian boundary. Niagara Falls is a more serious obstacle to navigation.

I'm not sure what you mean; like in a war with the British allied to the Americans?

Americans would never let the NW territory be given to the Canadians-prime estate that the Francophones really wouldn't cross over for with their own wider lands to settle, especially if they get Ontario.

I suppose, but I'd like to make land west of the settled regions a source of conflict for the *Americans and *Canadiens. Is there any precedence for joint control of such a large swath of land? Or might the Americans get greedy and want OTL Ontario?

The moment the US tries to nick Quebecois lands, there will be alliance with Anglophone Canadians. Whilst I hear a lot about Independent Quebec, I never hear anything about Quebec as a State of the Union.

Any comments, folks?

Actually, Quebec as part of the Union is a common, perhaps cliched, scenario. I'm not sure if I want to do such a thing in this timeline, because it would have to be done carefully to avoid cliche. That's partially why I have an independent Canada from the start. Should I decide to have the Americans conquer it, it would be a relatively unique way of making Quebec American compared to the very seperate cultures decide to unite totally against the British from the beginning.

But would the Americans really expect to get that land in the first place? In OTL, did the American revolutionaries expect to get that huge swath of inland land that they ended up getting?

I know the ban on settlement west of the Appalachians was a major issue for the Americans prior to the Revolution, but I don't know if they expected to receive the Ohio Country at the peace tables. They certainly wanted it though....

 

[Zuvarq]

Couldn't the US and Quebec be allies against the colonial powers?

 

[Helios Ra]

Couldn't the US and Quebec be allies against the colonial powers?

In the Revolutions, definitely, but after that I haven't decided yet. I think both will have a foreign policy generally supporting efforts by other colonies to win independence, but whether they'd actively intervene against Spain or France (or risk their luck against the British again) is another thing entirely at this time.

 

[Helios Ra]

Does anyone else have anything to offer on this? Even just a "You need to do more work on the alternate Seven Years' War before considering this." would suffice.