Capital Province

Capital Province in effect operates as a single national capital city for Sober Thought but in fact it is comprised of two chartered counties. References to the Capital imply the single city practicality, and references to Bight and/or Mit-en-Haut County imply the technicality.

The Capital is the most densely populated province in the country since its area is a small but its population is 2.1% of the national total. Nearly all its workforce is directly or indirectly involved in government, education, banking and other soft services.

Government

Federal representatives

The Capital elects five constituency and two list members to federal House of the Federation. In practice, this usually results in four anglophone and three francophone MHFs. To avoid a seeming linguistic minority, the odd MHF out becomes a member of the House of the Provinces. The other MHP is chosen by the municipal government whose linguistic group is not already represented there.

Provincial and municipal governments

Quadrennially, the Capital’s electorate chooses 15 Commissioners at large from Bight County and 15 Commissaires from Mit-en-Haut. From among their members, they must elect a Chief Commissioner and a Commissaire en chef auxilliare, or a Commissaire en chef and an Assistant Chief Commissioner, to operate the joint provincial-municipal Capital Commission.

A simple plurality will pass legislation with two exceptions: language and severance. Any legislation affecting language rights or altering its strict official bilingualism must receive a plurality from representatives of both counties. Because the Capital was created by the union of two counties which seceded from Central Province and Hochelaga for the express purpose to provide a neutral seat of government, the province is the only one in the federation that can neither exercise its right to self-determination nor be expelled by a vote in the House of the Provinces. If for some reason the federation were to dissolve completely, the counties would return whence they came.

Since there are so few municipal-provincial institutions per se – and the many federal institutions located in the province and supported by the Community as a whole – the property tax burden is quite low.

Shared jurisdictions

Defence

The Capital recruits and pays for a Civil Guard or Garde civil which is trained and equipped at federal expense. The Community Defence Forces has established courses to qualify soldiers for each rank, but the political responsibility for appointing qualified candidates lies with: the Bight County Council for officers up to Chief Lieutenant in the English units, Conseil de Comté de Mit-en-Haut for officers up to Lieutenant en chef in the French units, the Chief Commissioner and Assistant Chief Commissioner jointly for the three ranks in the commander/commandant group and only from those who have passed their appropriate CDF qualifying exams, and the CDF for the three marshal/maréchal ranks.

Each time Sober Thought gains one hundred million in population, Bight County raises one Civil Guard battalion and Mit-en-Haut one Garde civil. There is a single sequence of numbers for battalions (whether English or French) based on the following pairs, each language being odd in half the classes and even in the other half:

[1st Battalion,] Capital Foot Guards > 2e bataillon, Garde capitale à pied
[1ière bataillon,] Garde capitale à cheval > 2nd Battalion, Capital Horse Guards
[1st Battalion,] Capital Gunnery Guards > 2e bataillon, Garde capitale d’artillerie
[1ière bataillon,] Garde capitale de génie > 2nd Battalion, Pioneer Guards
[1st Battalion,] Capital Service Guards > 2e bataillon, Garde capitale des transports
[1ière bataillon,] Garde capitale de provision > 2nd Battalion, Capital Commissariat Guards
[1st Battalion,] Capital Provost Guards > 2e bataillon, Garde capitale de police
[1ière bataillon,] Garde capitale de churgerie > 2nd Battalion, Capital Surgeon Guards

Education

Primary, intermediate and secondary education is offered at equal numbers of schools in English and French throughout the Capital. The federally funded Université Sober Thought University is headquartered here and has several huge campuses in the twin counties.

Transportation

Because the Capital is small, landlocked and urban, its rail and paved roads are easy to build and maintain. Extra federal money saved by this happy coincidence is spent mainly on boosting air travel, already a direct federal responsibility.

Exclusive jurisdictions

Police and civil law

The Capital Police capitale has a Chief Commander of Police/Commandant en chef de police and a deputy for each county, namely an Assistant Chief Commander and a Commandant en chef auxilliare. Civil law tends to be socially tolerant.

Health

Two hospitals operate in each county. Compulsory government health insurance, covering nearly all services, is the norm and is quite affordable – in part because in migration drives down the average age of the population.

Natural resources

As a densely populated urban area, there are no significant natural resources in the Capital.