The Canadian WI Challenge

Inspired by Amadeus' post regrading 'interesting and boring' WI scenarios I offer The Canadian WI Challenge: to create a Canadian WI worth extrapolation.

Rule #1: It must be post-1900

Rule#2: It must be a Canadian initiated action/event. I.e. It can not be a Canadian reaction to a foreign power's action/event. ***

Rule #3: It has to be interesting.


*** Clarification: To say that Canada chose not to enter the Second World War would be acceptable, such an action would constitute a Canadian initiated action, you just can't have a foreign power take a direct action solely against Canada, that would be cheating. E.g. You can't say Great Britain tries to take back its colony, that would be a British initiated action and merely a Canadian reaction.

Good Luck!
 
WI Canada supports the UK during the Suez Crisis? (This would probably require a Tory government in power.)

Could butterfly away, if not much on the tangible policy front, at least a good portion of the Pearsonian mythology of the "honest broker", "inventors of peacekeeping", "maple leaf on your backpack gets you free beer around the world" etc .
 
WI Brian Mulroney and the Tories lose in 1988.

Obviously this means no free-trade, no Charlottetown Accord, possibly no Bloc Quebecois or Reform depending on how the Tories react to defeat. If the NDP win, that's something new. If John Turner wins, that's also something pretty nifty. Likely, but obviously no guarantees, the Tories win the next election, setting the stage for a completely different 90s, and thus Canadian political environment.
 

samcster94

Banned
WI Brian Mulroney and the Tories lose in 1988.

Obviously this means no free-trade, no Charlottetown Accord, possibly no Bloc Quebecois or Reform depending on how the Tories react to defeat. If the NDP win, that's something new. If John Turner wins, that's also something pretty nifty. Likely, but obviously no guarantees, the Tories win the next election, setting the stage for a completely different 90s, and thus Canadian political environment.
How does NAFTA work then?
 
What if Champ Clark never makes the speech on Canada one day being annexed by the U.S., and Republican Representative William Bennett never introduced a resolution asking President Taft to negotiate with the British for Canada's annexation into the United States, and thus Wilfrid Laurier is able to win the 1911 election? What if a Canada under Wilfrid Laurier never joins the first world war (for Laurier would then be Prime Minister during WW1 unlike in OTL).
 
Alberta and Saskatchewan are united as the province of Buffalo in 1905.

The MacKenzie Valley Pipeline gets approved.

The 1969 White Paper by the Liberals is brought into law.

The Progressive Party maintains unity instead of splintering.

Canada opts for a cruiser squadron instead of a dreadnought in 1910.

The National Energy Program is avoided.

The Bahamas joins Confederation near the turn of the century.

There's a ton of good Canadian PoDs, they just don't affect that much outside of Canada and make it pretty niche unless you're playing fast and loose with butterflies.
 
What if Champ Clark never makes the speech on Canada one day being annexed by the U.S., and Republican Representative William Bennett never introduced a resolution asking President Taft to negotiate with the British for Canada's annexation into the United States, and thus Wilfrid Laurier is able to win the 1911 election? What if a Canada under Wilfrid Laurier never joins the first world war (for Laurier would then be Prime Minister during WW1 unlike in OTL).

There would have been an uproar against Laurier had he not joined the war. His own party would have revolted against him and splintered. He could have avoided conscription but it's almost impossible for him to keep Canada out of the war.
 
What if Champ Clark never makes the speech on Canada one day being annexed by the U.S., and Republican Representative William Bennett never introduced a resolution asking President Taft to negotiate with the British for Canada's annexation into the United States, and thus Wilfrid Laurier is able to win the 1911 election? What if a Canada under Wilfrid Laurier never joins the first world war (for Laurier would then be Prime Minister during WW1 unlike in OTL).
Laurier was completely for the war, all he was against was conscription.
 
WI Canada becomes isolationist?
Early in century, Ottawa buys into Royal Navy proposals for colonies to fund ships with promises that RN will rush to defend colonies.
The Royal Canadian Navy is still-born.
The Royal Canadian Coast Guard grows to regulate fishing, shipping and smuggling in Canadian waters.
Quebcouis and a variety of pacifist groups tell Ottawa that they refuse to send their sons to die in foreign wars.
At the outbreak of WW1, Canada promises feed the UK, it needs all its farm boys to grow that much food.

Recent immigrants - from the British Commonwealth are still eager to enlist in huge numbers. They report to local militia regiments who are under contract with the British Embassy. Canadian militia regiments do the first round of screening and training, the recruits are given boat tickets to England.
 
Wilfred Laurier resigns because of internal language and geographic divisions in the Liberal Party before he starts his win streak, as he almost did IOTL.

Means Tupper might actually win.
 
On a similar note, what if Champ Clark wins the presidency in 1912 and goes to war against Canada in WWI? It’s going to be difficult for the Entente to win. There’s a good chance that “the American flag will fly over every square foot of British North America up to the North Pole.”
 
I was just suggesting a what if a Liberal victory under Laurier ends up resulting in Canada's neutrality in 1917. Not saying it would happen. But a Conservative victory in 1911 confirms entry.

Why would Canada suddenly be neutral in 1917? Did you mean to write 1914, ie. the year the war started?

Apart from that, even as just a WI, "Canada not fighting with Britian in World War I" is so ASB, you'd have to be talking about a different country than the one we knew in OTL. I mean, especially after 1917, you'd have even the bloody Yanks fighting and dying on Britain's side, but the Canadians stay back home twiddling their thumbs? I daresay that any Canadian citiziens living in the UK at that time would run the risk of being lynched in the streets.
 
Top