Victoria (1983: Doomsday)



The Republic of Victoria is a Canadian survivor nation centered on Vancouver Island in former British Columbia, and encompassing most of the BC coastline and the northern coast of Washington State.

Post-Doomsday
When the bombs fell, the 409 interceptor squadron out of CFB Comox was scrambled for defense. Their efforts managed to prevent strikes on 3 major targets in British Columbia: CFB Comox, CFB Esquimalt, and Victoria. Once contact with Ottawa and Vancouver was lost, Premier Bill Bennett ordered the Canadian Forces bases under Provincial jurusdiction. Parliament declared a state of emergency and halted all travel from Vancouver Island. Ferries currently on route to Tsawassen and Horseshoe Bay were lost in the rough waters resulting from the shockwave of the Vancouver bomb, as well as many towns on the eastern coast of the Gulf Islands being destroyed. Days afterwards the Bennett government ordered two ships out of CFB Esquimalt to scout the mainland coast to survey the damage. Vancouver was in ruins, and the ferry terminal in Horseshoe Bay was filled with the dead and dying due to its proximity to Vancouver. Tsawassen fared better as it was further south and the winds had carried the fallout inland towards the mountains, but was filled with refugees awaiting ferries to take them away from the devastation. Any remaining ferries were sent to Tsawassen to carry refugees to Swartz Bay and Duke Point where refugee camps had been set up to care for radiation poisoning and registration, as well as to get accounts of what had happened. Within 2 weeks approx. 100,000 refugees had arrived at the Duke Point and Swartz bay refugee camps and a single daily sailing was set up between Tsawassen and Duke point to transfer the trickle of refugees still coming in.

Plans were drafted to settle the refugees in the less developed areas of the west and north Island so as to reduce the amount of care required to concentrate on single areas and to serve the increased need for resource extraction. Expeditions were sent to re-establish contact with the rest of the BC coast and Washington State.

Conditions in relocation camps were less than hospitable, and the remote locations of some of them meant resources such as food and medicine took long periods of time to arrive. Riots started occurring frequently and the government response was to declare martial law in the camps. This caused considerable outcry among the established communities in Victoria and the refugee host communities.

Birth of the Republic
As an attempt to keep the traditions of democracy alive and to fight the rising unrest in several communities, and election was held on April 21st 1985. Due to a combination of the notion that the conservative policies of the Reagan presidency in the US, as well as Bill Bennett's mishandling of the new economy, the Social Credit party was defeated by the newly formed Social Survival party. Party leader Edward Grant was sworn in as Premier and an era of intense change began. The SSP first seized the resource and utilities companies and put them under government control. They then established the Ministry of Social Projects(MSP) that oversaw work placement and public works construction projects. With Vancouver serving as the major shipping hub of BC, and Victoria lacking the space to expand, an new port began construction in Port Alberni. Realizing that BC's reliance on Tourism as its major industry was over, the Ministry of Public works saw to the conversion of many tourist towns such as Courtenay into manufacturing and farming centers to serve the needs of the people. The MSP's work placement program determined the skills of those without jobs or those in tourism jobs and re-placed them into appropriate positions and in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, set up training programs for volunteers or those deemed to have aptitude in certain areas to be trained in needed positions.

While the policies of the SSP to many conservatives looked like Communism, the majority of the population saw the policies as needed in the current state of the world. BC needed to become self sufficient to survive without much of the outside world. Also, the SSP claimed that while definitely influenced by socialism, their policies were what they were elected on, and democracy was still an important part of the government.

In March 1986, the SSP MP from Vancouver Island North submitted a bill to Parliament suggesting that since contact with Canada had still not been established, and progress was being made to make the remnants of BC self sufficient, the final step should be made and the incorporated territories should be established as an independant nation. The bill was passed Oct. 2 1986 establishing the Republic of Victoria incorporating all the territories of Vancouver Island and the BC coast.

Constitution
While the Victorian Sovereignty Act of 1986 established the Republic of Victoria as an independant state, the rules and establishments of former BC and Canada were still in use. It was decided that as a new nation, a new Constitution was required. A Constitutional comittee was established to draft a constitution to be voted on by parliament. On June 23rd, 1987 a constitution was submitted. It contained these points:


 * 1) Government would continue to be a Constitutional Monarchy with ties continuing with the British royals
 * 2) The role of the Monarchy would be ceremonial and remain tied to the British Royals if they still live. Represented by a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Premier on advice of Parliament
 * 3) Parliamentary system would remain. People choose representatives and the head of Government will be the leader of the majority party
 * 4) Electoral system will be a proportional system based on the % of popular vote. Each electoral district gets 10 seats in Parliament.
 * 5) Territory is split into the following electoral districts: Victoria Central, Victoria East, Victoria West, Nanaimo-South Island, Port Alberni-West Island, Comox Valley-East Island, Powell River-North Island, Prince Rupert-Queen Charlottes, Sunshine Coast.
 * 6) Elections will be held every 5 years in February.
 * 7) Victoria claimes Sovereignty over the former territories of the Province of British Columbia

A new flag was chosen representing the republic's ties to both the old British commonwealth, and former Canada.

Expansion
As the cities of Port Alberni and Courtenay grew with their new roles as Port and Manufacturing centers, the need for raw resources increased. It was decided that more of the interior of BC needed to be reclaimed in order to secure the resources of the area. Expeditions were sent from Prince Rupert and Powell River. While the Coast Mountains impeded the Powell River expedition, the Prince Rupert expedition instead found its progress halted by armed men denying them entry to lands of Prince George.

The Ministry of Social Projects started Oil exploration off the coast which was previously not allowed under the BC Provincial government, as these resources would be direly needed. Mining operations in northern Vancouver island were established where iron deposits were discovered, as well as Tin deposits just south of Prince Rupert.

Washington Protectorate
While in the early days of the Republic, contact was maintained with Port Angeles in northern Washington state and the ferry linking the town to Victoria continued a limited run, the rest of the state was largely ignored. In 1989 Port Angeles and many of the surrounding towns approached the Victorian government with an association agreement. The agreed Washington territories would submit to Victorian authority in exchange for a degree of autonomy and aid in reconstruction efforts. The agreement was ratified on January 13th 1990 and the Washington Protectorate was established. The territories encompassing most of Clallum county were now under Victorian jurusdiction.

Outside reconstruction efforts in Port Angeles, Victorian influence didn't stray much outside of BC. In late 1999 with stability increasing, and the need for more resources, an expedition was launched to determine the status of much of former Washington State. Contact was made with the fledgeling Republic of San Juan and a rough alliance of cities including Bellingham and Mt Vernon who were just beginning to organize in response to rumors of threats from militants from Spokane. When the North Washington Alliance discovered that Victoria had survived and was becoming a strong stable nation, they requested assistance in readying themselves for the threat to come. Negotiations began and within two months the territories encompassing Island county and the coast of Whatcom and Skagit counties were incorporated into the Washington Protectorate.

Fort Bennett was established near Mount Vernon to train militia and help create a permanent defense force for the region.

Economy
The economy of Victoria is heavily socialised. While workers get paid for their work, most industries have been nationalised by the Ministry of Social Projects. Major industries include mining, farming, and manufacturing. The MSP official stance on the nationalised industries is that once stability and self sufficiency is established, privatisation will commence in order to rejoin the world economy.