Athabasca (1983: Doomsday)

Athabaska is a nation in the northern part of the former Canadian provinces of Alberta. It is named after the District of Athabaska that existed prior to the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan being created.

Pre-Doomsday
In 1971, Peter Lougheed's Conservatives put an end to the long rule of the Social Credit Party as the Progressive Conservative Party came to power. They remain in power to this day, coming up on 38 years of majority governments. Many experts maintain that the large-scale social change that occurred in the province as a result of the postwar oil boom was responsible for this important change of government. Urbanization, in particular the expansion of the urban middle classes, secularization, and increasing wealth are often cited as the primary causes of Social Credit's downfall.

Post-Doomsday
Doomsday had the effect of sending the region into chaos. Most communities went their seperate ways. In 1985, the city-state of Grande Prairie realized that they were truely on their own. The mayor of Grand Prairie at the time called a meeting of representatives of the city-states in northern Alberta to hammer out an agreement. After weeks of negotiation, they finally agreed to the document. The document was the Constitution for the newly-formed Confederation of Athabaska. On May 27th 1985 the representatives signed the constitution, officially forming the Confederation of Athabaska. In 1988 the Athabaskans made contact with the legitimate government of Canada and, after 2 years of debate, the Canadians reluctantly acknowleged the Athabaskan government as legitimate.

Government
The Athabaskan government is a loose confederation. The leaders of each province choose a representative to send to Grand Prairie. These representatives choose the Consul from amongst themselves. The representatives and Consuls last as long as the people that chose them decide they are needed. There have been a few consuls who lasted but scant months before being voted out.

Economy
The Athabaskans have access to the second largest oil deposits in the world. They have only recently begun to tap the Athabaskan Oil Sands, and with heavy aid from its neighbors. The oil is mainly used by the Athabaskans to fuel their farming equipment. The main source of income is, at least for now, agriculture and ranching. The grain shipments to nearby "Provisional Canada" and Assiniboia allow the Athabaskans to support a fair standard of living. There have been plans circulating to build an oil pipeline to neighboring Assiniboia. These plans are still in the negotiation stage. The earliest date the construction can begin is 2015. It is likely that construction would be further delayed by the the Athabaskan's need to strengthen oil production before any shipments can begin.



Military
The Athabaskans service a small militia for defensive purposes only. It is made up of former Canadian army personnel and RCMP officers. However, the Athabaskans cannot afford to arm it with anything better than old obsolete military equipment from the army bases. The Air Force Base at Cold Lake was hit by a non-nuclear ballistic missile on Doomsday, and was rebuilt in the years after Doomsday. It houses the small Royal Athabaskan Air Force, which is made up of a few obsolete planes that were converted to run on ethanol.

International Relations
The Athabaskans have known about the Provisional Canada in the NAU for years. They have resisted joining them because most Athabaskans maintain that they are doing well enough for themselves. More pragmatic Athabaskan citizens have also nixed rejoining the official Canada based in St John's, because of the massive amount of territory that Canada would need to re-annex for it to be plausible for the Athabaskans to rejoin confederation. The Athabaskans have close relations to the Assiniboians, as they feel that they are kindred nations. There is a small group advocating Athabaska's joining either Provisional Canada or the NAU as a seperate entity, however their membership is small and it is unlikely that they will gain a controlling percentage of the assembly any time soon.