TAGU - Labrador Game

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Based on the ideas from earlier, but not exactly. Starting with some maps for you:

Click for huge version


Election Districts

[Cincinnatus]

I'll play, when I get some district, party, and other details

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Populations:

Northern Labrador - 1,812
Central Labrador - 2,737
Eastern Labrador - 3,958
Western Labrador - 4,929
Happy Valley Goose Bay - 31,689
Labrador City - 167,281

Senators:
North - 4
Centre - 5
East - 6
West - 7
HVGB - 26
LabC - 124

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

A few issues


Quebec is mad at you
That's right
Cause you turned off the lights without telling them.


In this timeline Labrador produces much much more electricity than it does in our timeline, but, it exports none of it (zero) to Quebec. Labrador effectively broke the contract it had to do so and Quebec is not very happy. This happened decades ago, but, Quebec is still miffed. Labrador "gave" them the disputed territory to help smooth things over but with more and more dams going up, Quebec is getting angrier and angrier, especially that the Government has mused building electrical lines to Greenland, Iceland, and one to Europe - not that this is really a feasible idea anyway.

All electricity in Labrador is owned by the government, who then sells it to the people, but not at a profit, in fact at a near loss. For a cheap source to be sold at a loss means exactly what you think - electricity in Labrador is cheaper than anywhere else on the planet. This has had a few effects on Labrador and the economy...

You see, Mining, like in my other thread, is important, but also important is a lot of electrical-intensive crap. Factories have set up in the area, but also telecom companies. Labrador City is considered the HQ for call centres in North America. Computer servers have also set up in the area. How do they communicate? Though government funded construction of huge fibre-optic "pipelines" connecting the area to places like New York and London.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

History: Labrador gained it's independence in 1964 from the UK, after Newfoundland refused to join Canada. The most southern bit was kept with Newfoundland, because at the time that was what they wanted. In recent years residents there have begged to be allowed to join Labrador. The first (Conservative - 60's) government spent heavily, going into deficit, to open up Labrador to mining. It worked and copper was found across the land, and new mines sprang up. The second government (Labour - 70's) cut the power deal with Newfoundland and began to attract many industries to Labrador, at great cost with high deficits. The Third government (Conservative - 80's) really opened up Labrador to the world. Population boomed during this period. All of this growth cost a great deal of money and deficits were high. The fourth government (Labour - 90's) deregulated the economy and funded social programs, at the cost of a high deficit. The current and Fifth government (Conservative) made massive tax cuts which drove up the deficit.

As of 2007, the budget has revenues of $2,092 million, with Royalties alone accounting for $309 million. Expenditures in that year were $2,634 million. Note Labrador uses the Canadian Dollar, along with the countries of Quebec, and Canada. The 2007 GDP was $11 billion, and the 2007 total goverment debt was $19 billion

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

I'm in. I have a few questions.

1.) Your map of "election districts" seem to be the same as the regions. Do they use proportional representation, or are there constituencies that you simply didn't feel like drawing (not that I'd blame you there)?

2.) Is this a two-party system, or are there (viable) third parties? You only mention Conservatives and Labour in the History. Could you provide more details for the parties?

3.) What do the blue and purple lines represent on the map? I suspect they are roads and railroads, respectively, but clarification would be nice.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Proportional Representation

2 you'll see

3 Blue = Roads, Purple = Railroads. There are also regular ferry services, centred around Rigolet, that connect all coastal villages, as roads can be dicey in the winter.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Late 2007 poll

48% - Conservative
44% - Labour
3% - Liberal & Libertarian Party
2% - Green Party
2% - Labrador National Party
1% - Progressive Workers Party
1% - Native Rights Party

Support for removing the 5% national threshold:
51% - Remove It
49% - Keep It

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Early 2008. The Native Rights Party finishes their convention by proposing that all resource royalties should be given to the native peoples. This would, in short, result in each one having a "comfortable" income level of $30,000 a year.

The Government also decides to put the threshold question to a referendum scheduled for late 2008


Current Parliament
99 - Conservative
73 - Labour

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

So, historically, a de facto two-party system in that third parties could not receive enough support to break the threshold for representation. But it looks as though that might change by the time the game starts.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

This map appeared in a Quebec newspaper earlier this week

With an article about how since 1905 Canada had given away Quebec land, and that Quebec, as an Independent country, should get it back.

Later in the week this map appeared

Showing, in red, the land from the 1905 claim, and showing, in dark red, the possible "limited claim" that Quebec would be willing to claim based on the original 1905 claim. This editorial in the same paper was signed by 12 MNA's from various parties.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

More maps would appear including one from 1915 showing the coast as being the only part of Labrador.

Labrador papers began to respond, showing maps from the same era showing Quebec's western claim stopping short of Lab City, and in addition the revelation that in 1925, the Government of Newfoundland had attempted to sell Labrador to Quebec, and Quebec refused.

The government of Newfoundland even went so far as to release it's documents on the matter
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/lab1/labvol1.html

All of the bluster in short translated into Quebec trying to feel good about itself while making a threat to take away the "only part of Labrador that matters"

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The last map published before the issue settled down was one showing the extreme claims of both sides from 1927
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?authuser=0&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=214668381355121949879.0004b236230984945e550
and saying that it is in fact Quebec that should give Labrador land.

Of course, nothing would become of any of this ... at least not yet

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Late August, 2008

Current Parliament
99 - Conservative
72 - Labour
1 - Vacancy (Northern District)


51% - Conservative
42% - Labour
2% - Native Rights Party
2% - Liberal & Libertarian Party
2% - Green Party
1% - Labrador National Party
1% - Progressive Workers Party


Support for removing the 5% national threshold:
57% - Keep It
43% - Remove It


Both the Referendum and the Northern District By-Election are scheduled for October 11th


At convention, the Labrador National Party passes legislation that some say is "borderline racist". It calls for a full stop to immigration, excepting a small list of countries, and even then, limits them in ways that can only been seen as pro-white. More importantly, the party expands it's economic platform significantly calling for increased government spending in a multitude of areas, a military that is 10 times larger, and greatly expanded police powers.

Nearby, the Greens held their convention, where they proposed to ban the seal hunt, and add heavy environmental restrictions to mining. They also propose doubling the royalty on mines, and giving half to the Natives. Lastly, they oppose further hydro electric dams on environmental grounds and suggest that Labrador get into Solar and Wind.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

September 7: Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which at that point owned or guaranteed about half of the U.S.'s $12 trillion mortgage market, effectively nationalizing them. This causes panic because almost every home mortgage lender and Wall Street bank relied on them to facilitate the mortgage market and investors worldwide owned $5.2 trillion of debt securities backed by them.

September 14: Merrill Lynch is sold to Bank of America amidst fears of a liquidity crisis and Lehman Brothers collapse[204]

September 15: Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy protection

September 16: Moody's and Standard and Poor's downgrade ratings on AIG's credit on concerns over continuing losses to mortgage-backed securities, sending the company into fears of insolvency. In addition, the Reserve Primary Fund "breaks the buck" leading to a run on the money market funds. Over $140 billion is withdrawn vs. $7 billion the week prior. This leads to problems for the commercial paper market, a key source of funding for corporations, which suddenly could not get funds or had to pay much higher interest rates.

September 17: The US Federal Reserve lends $85 billion to American International Group (AIG) to avoid bankruptcy.

September 18: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke meet with key legislators to propose a $700 billion emergency bailout through the purchase of toxic assets. Bernanke tells them: "If we don't do this, we may not have an economy on Monday."

September 19: Paulson financial rescue plan is unveiled after a volatile week in stock and debt markets.

September 23: The Federal Bureau of Investigation discloses that it had been investigating the possibility of fraud by mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and insurer American International Group, bringing to 26 the number of corporate lenders under investigation.

September 25: Washington Mutual is seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and its banking assets are sold to JP MorganChase for $1.9 billion.

September 29: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is defeated 228-205 in the United States House of Representatives; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announces that Citigroup Inc. would acquire banking operations of Wachovia.

September 30: US Treasury changes tax law to allow a bank acquiring another to write off all of the acquired bank's losses for tax purposes

October 1: The financial crisis spreads to Labrador

Trade began to decrease, with imports taking a huge hit, being down 25% from the end of August.

In addition on October 2nd, Labrador Bank, the largest bank in the country failed...



Current Parliament
99 - Conservative
72 - Labour
1 - Vacancy (Northern District)


57% - Labour
31% - Conservative
3% - Labrador National Party
3% - Liberal & Libertarian Party
3% - Green Party
2% - Native Rights Party
2% - Progressive Workers Party


Support for removing the 5% national threshold:
63% - Remove It
37% - Keep It

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

October 3rd, government props up Labrador Bank

October 4th, government props up other banks across Labrador

October 7th, Unemployment lines get longer and longer

October 10th, Stock market in Labrador falls to it's lowest level ever, 99, below it's founding when it was set at 100


BY ELECTION
43% - Native Rights Party
42% - Labour
5% - Conservative

Threshold Referendum results
89% - Remove It
11% - Keep It

Current Parliament
99 - Conservative
72 - Labour
1 - Native Rights Party


62% - Labour
21% - Conservative
5% - Liberal & Libertarian Party
4% - Labrador National Party
3% - Progressive Workers Party
3% - Native Rights Party
3% - Green Party

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

October 13th, defections in Parliament

Current Parliament
94 - Conservative
72 - Labour
5 - Liberal & Libertarian Party
1 - Native Rights Party


October 17th, more defections in Parliament
Current Parliament
90 - Conservative
72 - Labour
5 - Liberal & Libertarian Party
4 - Labrador National Party
1 - Native Rights Party

October 20th, Mass resignations
Current Parliament
79 - Conservative
72 - Labour
5 - Liberal & Libertarian Party
4 - Labrador National Party
1 - Native Rights Party
11 - Vacant


68% - Labour
11% - Conservative
6% - Liberal & Libertarian Party
7% - Labrador National Party
3% - Progressive Workers Party
3% - Native Rights Party
3% - Green Party


October 21st, National Unity government announced, Conservative-Labour

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

New government goes into deficit to keep the country afloat, huge borrowing, mostly from other nations. In addition taxes are greatly increased, which proves to be very unpopular. Many more left-wing elements quit the Labour Party in protest. By-Elections are held. The Conservatives meanwhile continue to fall to bits.

Finally on January 1st 2009 the situation is as follows.

Current Parliament
70 - Conservative
62 - Labour
13 - Liberal & Libertarian Party
13 - Green Party
7 - Progressive Workers Party
5 - Labrador National Party
1 - Native Rights Party




24% - Labour
24% - Conservative
14% - Liberal & Libertarian Party
14% - Green Party
10% - Labrador National Party
10% - Progressive Workers Party
4% - Native Rights Party


At the Workers Party convention they call on the government to nationalize the mines and just about everything else as well as create a socialist system.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

So, basically a formerly two-party system where the sh**t hit the fan, which caused third parties to be viable.

Now that (I assume) the background info is complete, how does the game work?

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

So, basically a formerly two-party system where the sh**t hit the fan, which caused third parties to be viable.

Now that (I assume) the background info is complete, how does the game work?

The game begins once the next election has been held.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Actually, the game will begin after the NEXT election not this one happening right now

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Election Results
46 - Labour
44 - Conservative
23 - Liberal & Libertarian Party
21 - Green Party
15 - Progressive Workers Party
15 - Labrador National Party
8 - Native Rights Party

Coalition Government