1993 Canada: "One More Week"

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

This is another story I've been working on for quite a while. This story has a twist coming that you wont see coming! The story starts on Election Night, 1993. The election is different than in the real world, and our second chapter (post) will review what happened and why to get to the 1993 election, and then we will continue into the future. I will be needing your opinion and advice on certain things, and will post those things in an easily notable way

Lets begin

ELECTION RESULTS... CBC PROJECTS A LIBERAL MINORITY GOVERNMENT. LIBERALS WIN NEWFOUNDLAND, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA. PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVES WIN NEW BRUNSWICK. SURPRISE VICTORY FOR THE BLOC QUEBECOIS IN QUEBEC. THE BLOC TAKES 42 SEATS IN THE PROVINCE. LIBERALS SWEEP ONTARIO TAKING 75 SEATS IN THE PROVINCE, ONTARIO WILL BE THE NEW POWER BASE OF THE NEW LIBERAL GOVERNMENT. LIBERALS WIN MANITOBA. NDP WINS SASKATCHEWAN, THE NEW REFORM PARTY WINS 4 SEATS IN THE PROVINCE. REFORM CARRIES ALBERTA, THE LIBERALS ELECT 3 MPS IN THE PROVINCE. REFORM ALSO CARRIES BC. THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVES WILL FORM THE NEXT OFFICIAL OPPOSITION, ONLY THE LIBERALS AND TORIES HAVE SEATS IN EACH PROVINCE.

Supporters of each party consider the election results to be acceptable, and some even say, fair. The Tories, who had feared falling to third place or worse, managed to hold on to the Official Opposition. The Liberals won their government. The NDP staved off defeat, and managed to retain official party status, something which was a concern for the party. Reform has made their point, carrying the two west most provinces and making a significant impact in Saskatchewan. The Bloc has achieved its objectives, finishing third, ahead of the NDP and Reform.

Chretien is sworn in quickly, while his advisors grow into an ever deeper depression. They have finally gotten the budget numbers from the Tories and it's not pretty. Canada is on course for a 70 billion deficit over the next two years, and projections for the 4 subsequent years show another 100 billion in deficit. Economists and political advisors from across the spectrum expect that if this happens as projected, the Canadian Dollar will tank, and take with it the entire Canadian Economy, causing the government to declare bankruptcy, and only further the downward spiral.

They take a look back at just what happened in 1993. How did all of this occur?


Note, I purposefully am posting the result tables and maps in the next post, to encourage everyone to read the marquee, which I feel adds to the 'realism'






blank space...




no really, go read the marquee before going any further!!

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Photobucket and I dont seem to agree about it uploading the maps...

[minionofmidas]

Hmmm... so basically the complete meltdown doesn't happen? Interesting idea. Of course, in a sense your result is more "realistic" than what actually happened... in a welcome break from the usual alternative history stuff. (I'm no fan of the genre, really.) I wonder what you mean by "one more week", though - certainly the PCs would have done better only if the election were held a little sooner?

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Hmmm... so basically the complete meltdown doesn't happen? Interesting idea. Of course, in a sense your result is more "realistic" than what actually happened... in a welcome break from the usual alternative history stuff. (I'm no fan of the genre, really.) I wonder what you mean by "one more week", though - certainly the PCs would have done better only if the election were held a little sooner?

That's a good guess, but that's not the week in question. It'll all come out later today

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The mess began on June 20 1993, at the Progressive Conservative leadership convention. The results speak for themselves.

FIRST BALLOT
Kim Campbell - 1564
Jean Charest - 1469
Jim Edwards - 307
Garth Turner - 76
Patrick Boyer - 53

SECOND BALLOT
Jean Charest - 1730
Kim Campbell - 1717

The final date of the convention was greatly debated, originally scheduled to occur one week prior. One more week, however, was granted. The 'plan' was to get Kim Campbell elected, and use that extra time to allow voters to get to know her. The result, however, was that Jean Charest was able to use his momentum to clinch the leadership.

Charest entered the election running second to the Liberals, and managed to lose a few points beyond that, finishing with 29.8% of the vote, the lowest result for the Tories in history. There remain many who see this as the start of the disaster, many feel that Kim Campbell, who polled much higher than Charest, would have been able to win a PC government, if not another majority.

Regardless of how the mess began, it was here. Parliament would find it very difficult to work together to achieve much of anything. The Liberals initially formed an agreement with the NDP, however upon taking a look at the budget numbers, the NDP demanded wild tax increases and refuses to stand for cuts to social services. The Liberals next turned to the PC Party, their traditional adversary. Charest, for his part, saw it as political suicide to work with the Liberals. The Liberals, refusing to work with the Bloc, next approached Reform. The Reform Party proved more than happy to work with the Liberals, and Preston Manning would later state he was "overjoyed" at the prospect, saying that Reform could imprint its "brand of politics" on the other parties. Working with Reform, the Liberals passed a a"fiscal update" in early 1994 that saw some steep cuts, but not nearly as steep as was needed. The NDP for its part was outraged.

Facing falling poll numbers, the Liberals decided to hold back from further cuts at this time, deciding that they should seek a majority first. Reform came out of the agreement feeling used, frustrated, and upset. They agreed, along with the PC Party, and the Bloc Quebecois to bring down the Government at the next opportunity, hoping that an Election would return the PC Party to government, and that Reform and the Bloc could work with them. The balance of power therefore was held by the New Democrats. The NDP demanded significant tax increases and promises to not cut healthcare, the Liberals were unwilling to abide, and brought down the government that September. An election was scheduled for October 24th 1994. Due to all the political maneuvering, the Deficit continued to grow.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

1994 Election

Heading into the Election, the Liberals were in trouble. They had taken some extreme steps in their last budget due to Reform's influence, including deep cuts to EI, which aggravated those on the east coast. The NDP, which fell to a low in the 1993 election, had rebounded with some life. A quickie convention elected Dave Barrett as leader, with the runner up in that convention being Alexa McDonough from Nova Scotia. The NDP was polling well in that province due to the Liberal mis steps on EI.

The Bloc meanwhile was polling at over 50% in Quebec. In Ontario, a horse race between the Liberals and Tories was shaping up, while Reform was set to win in the West again.

Over the first week it became clear the Liberals would not get re-elected. They continued to drop in the polls while the Tories pushed into first place. The Tories mounted a very strong campaign in Alberta and BC where the party still had many grassroots supporters, and resources. Reform had to pull resources out of Ontario to counter the surge. The NDP meanwhile also focused on western ridings.

In Quebec, the shift was massive. Voters across the province swung from the Liberals to the Tories while the Bloc was on fire. Montreal in particular saw massive swings towards the Tories with some west-island Liberal MP's requesting their constituents vote Tory to stop the Bloc. As the results came in, Canadians sat and watched. First the Atlantic.

EDITED OUT

The NDP made a small breakthrough in the area, winning 3 Nova Scotia seats, and an unexpected win in New Brunswick. The Liberals only managed a handful of seats. That was nothing compared to Quebec...

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

As results rolled in from Quebec, Canadians from coast to coast were left in shock.



Both Jean Charest and Jean Chretien lost their seats. In fact, all but 8 Federalists lost their seats. The Liberals won only 4 seats in the province, one seat less than their worst result, 1844, which was the first election the Party contested. The Tories stole 3 seats away from the Liberals on the Island of Montreal, and held on to Beauce.

The Bloc won a staggering 67 seats and over 50% of the vote. Lucien Bouchard would say on Election Night that a majority of Quebecois have voted for sovereignty, and that they will repeat it in the coming 1995 election.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Ontario would be a two-way race that the Tories won

EDITED OUT

Manitoba and Saskatchewan



Saw the NDP and Reform do well, as well as the Tories.

In Alberta



The Tories were able to win urban ridings.

In BC

EDITED OUT

The Tories did much the same, while the NDP swept up more left-wing areas.

The Tories also returned to the map in the north

EDITED OUT

The end result left many scratching their heads.



The Liberals finished in fourth, behind Reform. Worse, the Bloc ended in second place. There were fears of what Bouchard would do as Leader of the Opposition

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Following the Election, Jean Chretien resigned as Liberal Leader. Caucus held an emergency meeting and elected Shelia Copps as Interim Leader. Jean Charest appointed Gilles Bernier, the member for Beauce, to the Senate, and ran in his riding shortly after. The Liberals agreed not to run a candidate, and Charest was elected to represent Beauce after beating the Bloc 55-45 in a By-Election.

Charest then set out on trying to secure a Majority by forming a coalition. Talks with Preston Manning did not go well. Reform still felt "used" from the last 'deal' with a government, and made demands that Charest could not accept; knowing that doing what Reform wanted would drive Quebec out of the country. Talks with Copps, however, went much better. The Liberals were humiliated by their fourth place finish and realized that if they ever wanted to return to Power, they would have to harm the electoral chances of the "new" parties; Reform, the Bloc, and even the NDP. There were also a number of qualified Liberal Cabinet ministers who saw this as an opportunity to hold on to their jobs. An official coalition agreement was signed prior to Parliament convening for the first time after the election. It would see a 30 member Cabinet, with the Liberal providing 10 of those members. There would be a Liberal Deputy Prime Minister (Copps) but the Tories would hold the Finance and Foreign Affairs portfolios. The official name of the caucus would be the "Government Coalition"

Copps, meanwhile, had been in discussion with David Barrett and Preston Manning. Neither of the two wanted to see the Bloc become the official opposition. Barrett proposed to sit in coalition with the Liberals, as opposition, with Copps as Leader of the Opposition. Manning made a similar offer to the Liberals, only with Manning himself as Leader of the Opposition. With the Liberals leaving to sit with the Government, Manning and Barrett found themselves in a difficult position. Despite this the two managed to hash out an agreement to form their own coalition called the "Official Opposition Coalition". The Details were as follows.

Manning and Barrett would serve as co-leaders. An NDP and Reformer would serve as co-house leaders. Since Parliament only recognizes one "Leader of the Opposition" Preston Manning would get that title and salary. And NDPer would officially therefore serve as "Opposition House Leader", another position that Parliament only recognizes one of. Manning would get the first three questions in question period, and Barrett the second three. The remaining questions would be split within caucus on a 3:2 ratio (that of the combined caucus). The caucus would have co-whips, and co-critics for each department. In effect, the parties would continue to function as two separate parties, and would only co-operate to the minimal amount required to stop the Bloc from becoming the Official Opposition. Manning, who declined to live in Stornoway, allowed Barrett to do so on his behalf.

Bill Blaikie of the NDP was approached to serve as speaker, and accepted the job.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Meanwhile in Quebec...

An election held in early 1994 produced the following results:

PQ - 77
PLQ - 47
ADQ - 1

Jacques Parizeau became Premier of Quebec. After the federal 1994 election victory, support for sovereignty sky-rocketed. A referendum was officially scheduled for October of 1995.

Federally, the government did not do so well. Another budget with contradictory measures to attempt to bring down the deficit. The 1994-1995 fiscal deficit hit 45 billion dollars, its largest amount ever, meanwhile Taxes went up, and Spending went down, at least visibly. The Canadian Dollar began showing clear signs of stress from the endless string of deficits, and economic growth started to sputter. Canadians looked at Parliament and saw a Liberal and a Tory party that could not win another majority so long as the Bloc and Reform were around. They saw the Bloc, the NDP, and the Reform party, parties with extreme views, as the only alternatives.

Heading towards the Referendum, the popularity of "Canada" within Quebec was at all time lows. The referendum campaign itself was botched by federalists. Heading into election night, the NO side had a lead in all the polls. A large "Unity Rally" was held in Montreal in attempt to convince Quebec that Canadians want them in Canada. Those involved directly in the campaign would later acknowledge that asking Quebec to choose a Canada that was sick economically was a difficult sell.

The results of the referendum were as follows....

[Хahar 🤔]

Cliffhanger!

Excellent work, love your TLs.

[Hash]

OUI!

Just to make it very fun.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

OUI!

Just to make it very fun.

I've already decided how the referendum will turn out
Also, SSSSSSSHHHHHHHH its supposed to come as a surprise!!!

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

OUI 52.6% - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - NO 47.4%

Yes: 2,308,360 - 52.6%
No: 2,083,316 - 47.4%

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Jacques Parizeau delivered the following speech on Television that night

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

(Note, only one word of the entire speech has been edited, the remainder is true-to-life.)

[Hatman 🍁]

I remember distinctively that red and blue bar going back and forth that fateful night. I would've been 8 at the time. I remember being so happy when it finally crossed to the no side

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Late in the night, after it had become clear the Yes side had won, Prime Minister Jean Charest entered the House of Commons. The lights were mostly out by this time. Reports are that Charest sat at his desk, alone, for hours, just staring at the empty benches, not saying a word to anyone. Cabinet held an emergency meeting that night, to decide what to do. The only decision they came to was to wait until the next morning.

Newspapers would report the next day that upwards of 100 people in Quebec committed suicide that night after watching the results come in. Over a thousand people fled their apartments and lives behind in Montreal and drove to Ontario overnight. The vote would remain the main issue for discussion for a long time to come.

Jean Charest submitted his resignation that afternoon, and left for private life without speaking to the media. The Coalition Caucus met and agreed that Shelia Copps should serve as interim Prime Minister until "this has all been sorted out" Copps opted to refer to vote to the Supreme Court of Canada. The court, for its part, rejected to render a judgement saying that the issue was a political one and must be solved by Parliament; this position only served to re-enforce the vote as real and final. Throughout the months of November and December, over 100,000 people left Quebec to live in other provinces, mostly Ontario in areas in and around Toronto and Ottawa.

Negotiations between Quebec and the Federal Government began with Lucien Bouchard and Joe Clark leading their own sides. The Quebec Liberal Party was itself divided, with a dozen members refusing to accept the results of the referendum, and attempting to stonewall all legislation in the national assembly. They were removed from the party by the Liberals. Negotiations were slow and Quebec accused the federal government of stalling. Parizeau grew increasingly agitated, and threatened to declare Quebec independent on New Years 1996. His attempts to force the National Assembly to convene over the winter break were met with stiff resistance from those within his own party, who strongly felt that Parizeau was growing increasingly "hard to handle" and that he was a "Liability" for the party; someone who would stick his foot in his mouth too often. In a stunning move that some felt amounted to nothing less than a Coup, the caucus of the PQ chose Lucien Bouchard to become Premier of Quebec, pushing Parizeau out. Parizeau, incensed by this move, nonetheless resigned his position allowing Bouchard to become Premier. Bouchard and Rock agreed to continue to negotiate for at least 6 months.

During this time there were rumblings of discontent from the rest of Canada. Some of what was being offered to Quebec were things that Western Canada had demanded. Preston Manning and his Reform Party began to push for some of these items to apply to all provinces in the "New" Canada. Manning was able to get the backing of the Government of Alberta, which threatened to hold it's own referendum. The Government of BC, a coalition between the BC Liberals and the BC Reform Party, also backed many of these proposals. News of a country falling apart pressed the Canadian economic situation to desperate lows. This caused only further discontent amongst the Provinces and citizens, many of whom became more and more willing to "jump from the sinking ship" that was Canada.

In early February, facing a possible federal bankruptcy by the end of the year, the government of Alberta officially voted to seek sovereignty, and put forth a referendum to that effect. This referendum was easily passed in early March. The government of Newfoundland made similar moves with similar results. Soon all provinces were invited to join the negotiations.

Finally, in mid April 1996, Joe Clark emerged from the negotiation room and announced that the negotiations had failed. Quebec would become a country effective June 24th 1996 (St.Jean Baptiste day) and that the remainder of the provinces of Canada would become independent, as Canada itself would cease to exist on 11:59pm, December 31 1996. This news shocked citizens, but with a sinking dollar hitting below 40 cents US, sky-rocketing inflation, and nation-wide unemployment peaking at 15%, many felt that this could be just the medicine that was needed to save the country. All provinces had agreed on how to share the debts and assets of Canada. They all agreed that "Canada" would cease to exist, and in it's place, a very weak international union would remain to administer such things as the Canadian Dollar, which all regions would keep, at least for now.

The new nations that would replace Canada would be as follows:

[Хahar 🤔]

*cliffhanger*

Slightly implausible, but I like.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

NOTE!!! Some changes were done to this. You may want to re-read it!


QUEBEC

Officially achieving Independence on June 24th 1996, Quebec will become it's own country. Plans are for Quebec to officially server ties with the Queen that fall, and elect a President. Lucien Bouchard is currently polling at 71% to win that election, with Jacques Parizeau, running as an Ind pendent, polling at 15%, slightly ahead of Daniel Johnson at 14%, this would end up being the final results of that election, with Bernard Landry becoming Prime Minister.

At the time of independence, the National Assembly stood as follows
PQ - 77
PLQ - 35
ADQ - 1
IND - 12 (Anti-Separatists)

Federal MP's as follows
BQ - 67
Lib - 4
PC - 3
Vac - 1

The 67 Bloc members did not want to be left out in the cold, and a compromise with the National Assembly was struck. All 75 Canadian MP's would be invited to sit as members of the National Assembly. The Assembly would then be expanded to 200 members in the fall election. That election would produce the following results:

PQ - 164 - 51.4%
PLQ - 24 - 21.4%
ADQ - 9 - 21.7%
AS - 3 - 3.9% (Anti-Separatists) officially running as Independents.

Elections would have to be held again by 2002

The Government of Quebec would go on to give the natives a very high degree of autonomy. Between the date of the referendum and the date of independence, 250,000 mostly Anglophone residents of Montreal would leave.

The Government of Quebec took accounting of it's new national budget. They projected 1996-1997 budget revenues of 102 billion, with expenditures of 129 billion, for a deficit of 27 billion.

All 24 of Quebec's Senators were effectively discarded.



NEWFOUNDLAND

Newfoundland decided to go it alone. Following Quebec's lead, all MP's were added to the Legislature. All Senators, however, were added as well. The 6 Senators would remain appointed and carry all the same rights as the 7 MP's and 52 members of the existing Assembly. The new 65 member Assembly would keep it's current name, the House of Assembly.  It was decided that elections were not needed, hence the party standings were as follows:

Lib - 39 (including 3 senators)
PC - 16 (including 3 senators)
NDP - 1

Elections would have to be held again by 2001

A Gentlemen's agreement was signed between the two main parties regarding the "Senate" seats. Like all other Assembly members, "Senators" would only serve as long as the Assembly. The agreement would see the two parties share the 6 seats, with three each. In short, each new Premier appoints 6 people to sit in the Assembly, but under a new constitutional convention, 3 are from the government, and 3 from the opposition. An interesting tradition started whereby the leaders of the two major parties would appoint themselves to sit in these seats, thereby not tying them to a single riding. The second position would then go to a Woman or other minority, and the final position either to another Woman, an old party hack, or a person that the party desperately wanted in the Assembly at all costs.

Budget accounting for Newfoundland would be extremely painful. Revenues were found at 4.1 billion, with expenditures at 10.9 billion, for a deficit of 6.8 billion. The government began to take steps to reduce the deficit, including some deep cuts to social spending, but did not feel extreme pressure due to the possible oil wealth within the nation. Other countries, banks, and businesses were quite willing to let the debt grow (IE allow Newfoundland to pay 'one credit card with another') with the understanding that Oil revenues would flow in due time.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

*cliffhanger*

Slightly implausible, but I like.

I dunno if I agree it's all that implausible. The economic situation needed to get to this point would have been dire to begin with, before Quebec leaves. After it, the country would have literally torn itself to bits IMHO.

Besides, its my story

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

ONTARIO

Ontario also decided it would become it's own country. Elections would be held in November of 1996. The government of Ontario had already decided to merge federal and provincial ridings. Ontario decided to solve the question of what to do about the MP's in a simple, but temporary manner. All 103 provincial ridings would elect one MPP, while all 103 federal ridings would elect one MP. All 206 members would then sit in the same Ontario House of Commons. An agreement saw the parties run their own campaigns. The Liberal Party of Canada would run for the 103 "federal" seats, while the Ontario Liberal Party would run for the 103 "provincial" seats, etc. The Reform Party of Canada declined to nominate any candidates. The Ontario Liberal party was officially 'leaderless' as was the PC Party of Canada and the Canadian NDP. It was therefore agreed that the three leaders present at the debate would be Ontario PC leader and Premier, Mike Harris, Liberal Party of Canada leader, and Prime Minister Shelia Copps, and Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton. The results of the election was as follows

PC - 112
Lib - 82
NDP - 12

Map: (Note. Yellow means 1 NDP, 1 Liberal. Cyan is 1 NDP,  1 PC. Purple is 1 Liberal, 1 PC)

EDITED OUT

The NDP barely made the 12 seats needed for Party Status. Copps committed to stay on as leader an defeat Harris in the next election.

Accounting found Ontario on course for 148 billion in revenue, and 159 billion in expenditure

Ontario's Senators were encouraged to run for office. The remainder were discarded.

As it had become quite clear that all 206 members could not fit into the existing legislature at Queens Park, there was some movement to either rebuild the room or change the capitol. After a political debate, a plebiscite was called to ask weather the capitol should be Toronto or Ottawa. The NDP and Liberals pointed out that Ottawa's local economy would be more devastated by the loss of a seat of government than Toronto's would be. There was also nostalgia for the Parliament buildings of Canada, which would be used if Ottawa was picked.

Ottawa won the vote 64% to 36%, and became the capitol of Ontario.

The dual-member electoral system, only intended as an interim stop-gap measure, was not replaced. Voters responded that they liked the ability to make one vote for a candidate they may prefer, and another for a party.


*EDIT - For those curious, Queens Park has space for 140 MPPs.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

WEST CANADA

At first, it was unclear what would happen in the west. Alberta was willing to "go it alone" as was BC. Saskatchewan, however, feared being left weak and alone, called for a plebiscite on weather the province should join with Alberta (and follow it wherever it may lead) or Manitoba. On a 60-40 split, voters chose Alberta. Manitoba had a debate in the legislature as to what to do. Some wanted to stick with Ontario, but the majority decided to throw their lot in with Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Northwest Territories, seeing this, voted to go along with the Prairies. The Yukon, who's only road connection is with BC, then put pressure on BC to also join this nation, which BC eventually voted to do.

West Canada is therefore made up of 4 Provinces and 2 Territories. The Northwest Territories is scheduled to be divided in 2 years time into a 3rd Territory.

Legislatures as follows:

Yukon
NDP - 11
Lib - 3
YKP - 3 (Yukon Party)
Next Election by 2000

Alberta
PC - 51
Lib - 32
Next by 1998

British Columbia
Lib - 36
NDP - 36
Ref - 2
Next by 2001 (some say the NDP would have won the election if not for all the chaos)

Saskatchewan
NDP - 42
SKP - 10 (Formed by 8 members from the Liberals and PC Party)
Lib - 6 (11 won in last election)
PC - 0 (5 won in last election)
Next by 2000

Manitoba
PC - 31
NDP - 23
Lib - 3
Next by 2000

A Federal Election was scheduled to be held. The old federal ridings would be used. In addition, each province would elect 6 senators based on a block list.

BC
Ref - 25
NDP - 5
PC - 4

Alberta
Ref - 24
PC - 2

Saskatchewan
Ref - 10
NDP - 3
PC - 1

Manitoba
Ref - 6
NDP - 5
PC - 2
Lib - 1

Northwest Territories
Ref - 1
PC - 1

Yukon
Ref - 1


Before Parliament could convene, the lone Liberal, Ron Duhamel, decided to switch to the PC Party, saying he found them easy to work with during the Coalition. The end results were as follows

Ref - 67
NDP - 13
PC - 11

All 26 elected Senators were Reform.

EDITED OUT



The structure of the new government would be very decentralized. Provinces gained more power. Sales taxes became a provincial responsibility, and tax points were transfered to the provinces to such a degree that Federal revenues would be half what they were under Canada. In return, nearly all transfers to the provinces were cut, and other programs would become Provincial-Only. After some debate, Calgary was settled upon as the Capitol of the new nation.


Accounting found the following results for the provinces and the new Federal government.

BC. 40.1 billion in rev, 40.0 in exp
Alberta. 37.2b in rev, 31.9b in exp
Manitoba. 6.7b in rev, 10.6b in exp
Saskatchewan. 5.9b in rev, 10.1b in exp

West, Federal. 30.6b in rev, 51.0b in exp
Prime Minister Preston Manning committed to eliminating the deficit within 4 years. Opposition leaders Dave Barrett and Kim Campbell warned this could be dangerous.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

NEW ACADIA

The nation that almost wasn't. The 3 Maritime provinces ended up grouped as one, but the path there was a difficult one. The governments of each province knew they had to combine but had to find a way to sell it to their people. A referendum on the issue was passed with as low as 51% in some areas (Prince Edward Island).

Moncton would serve as capitol of the bi-lingual nation. New Acadia would have 6 "regions" with extremely limited powers; "English" New Brunswick, Acadia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, Halifax, and "The rest of" Nova Scotia. Power would be highly centralized into the national government. In order to bring the "smaller" regions on side, an electoral formula was worked out.  The new assembly would have 172 members. 160 of those would be assigned to each region based on Rep-by-Pop. 4 additional members would then go to each of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, and Acadia.

The 24 Senators for the area would be retained in a small "Senate". This Senate would be toothless. It could not introduce legislation, and had to vote on all bills within 180 days. Refusal to vote would grant passage to that bill. Voting No would throw the bill back into the Assembly where a simple majority could pass it again.

The Government was bloated. Accounting said Revenues were at 12.2 billion, but Expenses at 31.6 billion.

The first government would have quite a challenge. Without the resources available to Newfoundland, there was a real fear that bankruptcy could follow.

In the first election, Liberal Leader Frank McKenna, PC Leader Bernard Lord, and NDP leader Alexa McDonough faced off against one another.

The results of the election were as follows:

Gah! Tired of writing. To be continued.

[Hatman 🍁]

Hahahaha. Awesome stuff.