Canada

Flag of Canada, adopted in 1933

**Canada**, officially the **Commonwealth of Canada** is the largest country in North America. It is rivaled by their ideological enemy, the Peoples’ Union of America to the south. Through quick change, Canada has transformed drastically throughout the decades, distancing itself, like others from conservative Britain while also experiencing a “Red Scare” in the 1920s and great discontent after the Second American Civil War.

## History

### Before the Second American Civil War

Modern Canadian history can be traced back to the creation of the Confederation of Canada in July of 1867. For most of its life, Canada has been strongly linked to the United Kingdom both politically and economically as a colony of the greater British Empire.

During the Great War, the Canadians contributed men, supplies and war material to the frontlines. By the end of the conflict, Canada had returned a victor in the war, but troubles soon began to brew. The German Revolution and its impacts were felt across the world, and Canada was no exception. Volunteers were enlisted to aid the British & the German Republicans, but their contribution did little to stop the revolutionary tides.

At the same time, the breakout of the Cairo War and British defeats in Egypt and the Arab Peninsula began to terrify the Canadian government, as their state was intrinsically linked to that of London's. Should London falter, Ottawa would feel the ripple effect. Once again, volunteers were conscripted, but try as they may the British Empire began falling in quick succession, but it was the Second American Civil War that would truly transform Canada, a state once so linked to the United Kingdom only to break away less than twenty years later.

### Aftermath of the conflict

Canada was one of the first countries to feel the effects of the civil war immediately with the declaration of independence of the Republic of New York. Refugees flooded into Canadian soil, and the refugee crisis only deepened as the conflict dragged on.

At first, the Canadian government made it clear they would not tolerate this illegal migration, but as time and the conflict wore on, the ability for the Canadians to control the situation starkly deteriorated. Canadian border patrol was stretched too thin for the amount of people that crossed into Canada each and every day. It was a nightmare, to say the least. The Unionist government subsequently suffered a major political meltdown, while America spiraling into war lead to the worst economic disaster in Canadian history.

### Impoverishment and isolation

Unable to deal with the current situation, the Unionists collapsed during the 1921 elections as Canada was continually suffering from a multitude of issues, leading to the election of Liberal Mackenzie King, who promised to heal and reform Canada back onto the world stage. By this point however, the civil war was in its closing stages and less and less refugees were arriving to Canada each day, allowing the border to be secured by the military, before closing it in February to all countries it bordered.

While initially unpopular at first, it was King’s reformist attitude that improved Canadian life over the course of several years. King for his part, helped resew and build up a common Canadian identity. He managed to hold off growing ethnic tensions throughout Canada, especially with French-speakers in Quebec. Canada going forward would be one of the most closed off countries to immigration due to the +1 million people Canada was forced to absorb. Instead of forcing them back however, King opted to integrate them within broader Canadian society. These efforts would sometimes go unnoticed as many Americans experienced xenophobia with integration, especially within Quebec. The majority of American immigrants spoke English, and many French Quebecers felt that Ottawa was using the refugees as a way to scatter and break up French-speaking Quebecers. While these rumors were always denied, it served as a common rallying point for the growing Quebecer separatist movement.

Up until 1925 Canada had stabilized and curbed ongoing sentiments that Canada would spiral into revolution as had their American counterparts, but King was quick to act to ensure that would not happen. King especially cracked down on leftist parties and organizations, leading to a rise of the Canadian far-right, while this was contrasted with a growth of leftist politics in Quebec, aided by the People’s Union of America. Due to the highly flammable situation, Canada in the early 20s closed and suspended its relations with the Legion of America, while they managed to convince the Peoples’ Union to open their borders for trade. The PUA, due to its situation partially opened itself up to the world market, leading to the Canadian economy growing over a period of 2 years into 1925.

For the refugees however, they were stuck in a permanent state of limbo. Canada simply absorbed too many refugees to be properly integrated into Ottawa in a short time, which has lead to hundreds of thousands of refugees stuck along the border in shanty towns with little infrastructure.

While King was well liked for his handling of immediate calamities, long term he was a poor planner as to how these issues should be solved, like with Quebec or with the refugees. Canada by this time was still very poor, but recovering, and it was because of this that lead the Conservatives under Arthur Meighen to win the 1925 general election, but his reign as the president would be unliked by most.

Many Quebecers, supporting King over Meighen were frustrated with the election results, and tensions slowly rose until 1928 when Meighen sat with prominent Quebecer activists and politicians in hopes of appeasing an agitated population. But this event basically went nowhere and resulted in the “September Unrest”, in which because talks went nowhere Quebec experienced waves of anti-American xenophobia, leading to 10 refugees dead, 130 injured and over 4,000 re-evacuated from Quebec territory, the biggest scandal in Meighen’s reign.

Furthermore, his cuts over welfare programs only induced poverty for many communities which rallied behind his replacement during the 1930 elections, and King was again re-elected.

### Official "independence"

King’s election that year proved to be significant, as he was one of many within the Liberal Party who favored to move away from the British Empire in the wake of growing unrest in the aftermath of the British Financial Crisis and the collapse of the British Raj. As the economic depression back in England expanded into Canada, growing calls for distance from the British Empire grew significantly. While some called for full-fledged republicanism, many simply hoped for further autonomy from the United Kingdom, seeing its connections with London as a mere liability. Despite heated tensions and vague war threats by Mosley, he was eventually forced to relinquish British power over Canada, and that year, still quite controversially to this day, Canada was recognized as an equal country to that of the United Kingdom, a big victory for the Liberals, but a humiliation for Oswald Mosley's government.

King reintroduced welfare into Canada, and further relief programs were passed which helped expand Canadian cities to accommodate for American refugees. Because of this, King yet again won the presidency in 1935, but its not without its growing problems. King’s opposition is rising everywhere due to his inability to fix certain issues in the long term, while backlash towards Canadian "independence" has been gaining traction, especially among that of the Conservative Party.