Hamilton Ontario

Hamilton Ontario

Flag of Hamilton Ontario
Motto: Industry and education
No Map Available Yet
Region	Canada
Capital	Hamilton City
Official Language(s)	English
Leader	Larry De Annie, while he's out on bail
Population	~2 billion
Currency	steel ingot
NS Sunset XML

Hamilton Ontario is the puppet nation Sober Thought created to satisfy the urge to have some contact with a real life homeland, and it naturally resides in NS region of Canada. Issues are answered as if it were the RL Hamilton.

RL Hamilton is typically dismissed as an uninteresting, unintellectual city founded on the steel and manufacturing industries. Instead, it is a university town and a green city which includes the headquarters of the Bruce Trail Association, the Royal Botanical Gardens, King's Forest Park, Dundurn Castle and Park, Gage Park, Victoria Park, and now -- with suburban amalgamation -- a host of conservation areas. Check out my real Wiki articles in English, basic French, fractured German and non-existent Czech (don't ask!).

The Mega City-State of Hamilton Ontario is a peculiar but stable federal city-state strangely devoted to both social and economic welfare. It adroitly balances the needs of manual and intellectual labourers, economic leftwingers and social rightwingers, manufacturing and farming concerns, and young students and elderly pensioners.

Geography

Hamilton Ontario physical geography map

The physical features of the country break it down into several major geographic regions, each associated with one or more government districts. Starting counterclockwise from the northwest and working to the southeast, the regions are: northwestern rolling hills, the southern plains, the escarpment, the eastern fruitlands, the seafront, the protected harbour and the southeastern marshlands.

Great Southern Plain and Flamborough Hills

Most of the area of the Great Southern Plain is given over to greenspaces of one kind or another, starting with the many farms in the country's breadbasket. Most farms grown grain, chiefly corn and wheat. The only incorporated urban settlement of Glanbrook Province is town of Mount Hope which has an airport, light industrial and residential neighbourhoods. To the east, the Great Plain also continues into Ancaster Province above the Escarpment, with settlements at Copeton and Lynden.

The Flambourough Hills share some of the characteristics of the nearby plain, but the territory is broken by rolling hills which make grain crops difficult to raise but fruit, mixed or specialty crops much more feasible. By far the largest settlement and urban area of Flamborough Province is the town of Waterdown, but Carlyle, Freelton and Rockton are also smaller rural and semi-rural settlements.

Flood control and irrigation in both regions is provided by several dams and their associated reservoirs. The conservation areas' littorals double as recreational destinations for residents of the city state, who enjoy boating, dog walking, bird watching, hiking and camping there.

Hamilton Escarpment

The Hamilton Escarpment cuts across the entire country in a roughly east-west direction, and forms a formidable barrier to transportation. Expensive and very ecologically damaging roads and bridges link lower Hamilton Ontario with upper Hamilton Ontario across the Escarpment.

Given its steep climb, the Escarpment itself has no major settlements on it, but many large and small settlements are perched at its foot, notably the city of Hamilton and the town of Ancaster. They were originally attracted by the possibility of power generation for gristmills, sawmills and diverse manufactures.

Above the Escarpment, the city of Hamilton has expanded into an area of Hamilton Province known collectively as Hamilton Mountain: the city of Upper Hamilton is south of the city of East Hamilton and the city of Hamilton, and the city of Mount Hamilton is south of the town of Westdale. The town of Upper Stoney Creek is a similar area southwest of the city of Stoney Creek in Stoney Creek Province.

The Escarpment is protected, including areas directly above and directly below, from further development to preserve its flora, its fauna, its status as the longest national park, and its role as a wildlife corridor. Unfortunately, the existing roads have caused some irretrievable damage.

Fruitlands

Both above and below the Escarpment to the far east of the country, weather is milder and water more plentiful. Thus, farmers are able to grow more weather-sensitive fruits like apples, pears, plums, grapes and cherries. The town of Fruitland is the dominant agricultural service centre.

The close proximity to the city of Stoney Creek and its insatiable appetite for undeveloped land makes the farmers here nervous, but they need not worry because the environmental protection for the Escarpment includes virtually all but the most marginal verger or orchard lands of the fruitlands.

Urban waterfronts

The sea coast is similar to the Port Hamilton inland, but is lacking in the protection of the harbour so it is buffetted with more severe weather. Very little of this coastline is not occupied by incorporated communities. Fairweather small craft harbours are maintained as several places along the seacoast.

Port Hamilton and East Hamilton are dotted with the mouths of small creeks which trickled down the Escarpment and make their way to the sea. In the past, city planners unwisely filled these creekbeds in and built upon them, causing unstable ground and uneven sinking. All new construction avoids this, including most of that in Stoney Creek Province, and some remedial action has been taken on the worst instances of earlier environmental errors.

Hamilton Harbour is created by a protective isthmus which has been perforated by a canal to give more reliable access to the town of Port Hamilton. Being on a trade route, and having bulk steel, grain and limestone to ship, has meant that Hamilton Province has become a major transportation hub and destination in the NationStates region of Canada.

Natural waterfronts

Below the Escarpment and Flamborough Hills, and separated from Hamilton Harbour by an additional narrow neck of land, are the marshlands of Dundas Province. By far most of the settlement is concentrated in the town of Dundas, which is away from the Dundas Marsh. The town of Dundas was an early contender for dominating the country, but it lost out early to the city of Hamilton because of the inability to get reliable and acceptable access to water transportation.

These wetlands are vital for cleaning coastal water of artificial and natural wastes, and attract a wide variety of fish and waterbirds which add to the natural beauties of the country. Contained on its littoral are the National Botanical Gardens, featuring free-growing native species, a large network of hiking trails and enclosed arboretums for growing foreign species.

Demographics

Overall, the population makeup of Hamilton Ontario is rather unremarkable for a country of its size, location and history. There are no great age or sex imbalances, but as a city-state is predictably highly urbanised. Racial, linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity has been enhanced by economic migration fostered by a thriving national economy.

Age, sex and urbanity

The age pyramid for Hamilton Ontario is rather conventional, with a slightly smaller ratio of females in the youngest age group gradually becoming a far greater ratio of females in the eldest age group. Immigration slightly skews this general trend, but immigrant groups quickly conform to the general trend.

Residents of Hamilton Ontario are overwhelmingly urban, with 61% living in cities, 88% in cities and towns, and a staggering 94% in incorporated communities of all kinds. Nevertheless, they value communion with nature and are rarely too far away from the rural delights of the pastoral countryside.

Language, culture and race

Hamilton Ontario has a single official language funded for government discourse, but several heritage communities have maintained small pockets of cultural and linguistic viability. Consult the chart to the right. About 90% of the country is white, with most recent immigration coming from non-white countries. Nearly all non-whites live in Hamilton Province, giving it a more cosmopolitan feel than the nation as a whole warrants.

Economy

Main articles: Transportation in Hamilton Ontario, Communications in Hamilton Ontario and Education in Hamilton Ontario.

The national currency of Hamilton Ontario, in keeping with its origins in heavy industry, is the steel ingot. It maintains a favourable exchange rate due to the robust economy which typically achieves the Thriving ranking.

Both trade unions and industry associations are common, since both Big Labour and Big Business prefer to deal with their larger counterparts on fewer but more important occasions, rather than in a series of smaller and unimportant negotiations. While labour and capital are not especially enamoured with one another, most of the time they recognise their common ground and cooperate sufficiently well for the functioning of the economy and to the liking of the government.

Its major industries are gambling, pizza delivery and book publishing. Strange as these three industries may seem, it would be wise to remember that university students form a large minority of the country, especially in Westdale Town, and students feed all three of these industries. The government is largely content to let industries to police themselves, but does insist on tariff-free trade on all but items essential to ensure national sovereignty.

The business infrastructure is very strong, and that is the government's main contribution to industry rather than specific protectionism or overt subsidy. Water and air tranpsortation move large industrial goods and people respectively from the nation to the outside world. Rail and road transportation move people and products inside the nation, or to immediate neighbours. Television and radio form or foster the psychologically and eocnomically important cultural economy, while print and electronic media prove the population is literate. The education system is a shared responsibility of the provincial and federal governments, and there are several privately- and government-supported tertiary educational institutions.

Government

"The Mega City-State" was formerly named for "The NDP Voting Constituencies" for its tendency to vote for a particular political party, a moderate Social Democratic party with latent Populist tendencies. It is a structured federation in which the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government all have their own competencies and roles.

The federal government maintains a Provincial Relations Office, the provincial governments Federal Relations Offices, the provincial governments Municipal Relations Offices (except Glanbrook and Dundas Provinces) and the municipal governments Provincial Relations Offices.

Since some of these jurisdictions are not clearcut or have closely related ones at other levels, there are tripartite agencies for health (with the emphasis on preventive and low-cost measures instead of reactive or high-cost measures like organ translation), education (all four levels), transportation (which is under constant renovation at public and private expense) and public safety (anti-crime, anti-incendiary, disaster recovery and search-and-rescue).

Legislatures

Each government in all three levels of government has its own elected or delegated legislature.

Federal Council

The federal legislature is bicameral, i.e., consisting of both an upper and a lower house. The upper house of the Federal Council represents the six provinces, and its membership consists of 14 members altogether: four chosen by Hamilton Province and two each by the other five provincial governments. As a small executive working committee, the upper house meets in various cities (mainly provincial capitals) as it sees fit.

The lower house of the Federal Council represents the people, and its membership consists of under one hundred members representing single-member seats. Each urban seat represents incorporated communities containing two percent or part of national population, and each rural seat represents each single percentage of population. There is no proportional representation, and this slight preference for rural voters somewhat restores the balance between right- and leftwing voters.

The Governor is elected by all citizens at large to serve as the ceremonial head of the federal government. Hamilton Ontario is a parliamentary democracy in which the Prime Minister is elected by and responsible to the Federal Council's lower house.

Provincial councils

All provincial legislatures in the country are style "x Provincial Council," but the means of electing their members differs slightly and the number of the legislators differs significantly.

In the most populous and all-urban province, the municipal councils send delegates from their councils to serve on the Hamilton Provincial Council. Each municipality gets a pair of provincial councillors for every 5% national population or part, giving current standings of: East Hamilton City 6, Hamilton City 8, Mount Hamilton City 4, Port Hamilton Town 2, Westdale Town 2 and Upper Hamilton City 6.

The five least populous provinces all elect their provincial legislators directly, but sometimes with a few wrinkles. Glanford's total population is small but it is all concentrated in Mount Hope; however, the Glanbrook Provincial Council consists of 11 members each elected at large to represent the eastern Binbrook rural district, the western Glanford rural district and the western Mount Hope urban district. Similarly, Stoney Creek Province guarantees urban and rural parity in its seats, although at the moment this underrepresents Stoney Creek City residents by about a third.

Dundas Province is unusual in that it insists on holding separate elections for the provincial council when its largest and only municipality contains nearly all of the province's residents. At least one sixth of the sitting members must come from outside the town. Additionally, its provincial council is called the Valley Provincial Council rather than the Dundas Provincial Council, to lessen confusion with the nearly-as-powerful Dundas [Town] Council.

Municipal councils

Municipal councils are much more prone to local variation, so this subsection will speak of tendencies or generalities. All heads of municipal councils are styled Mayors, except the Reeve of Westdale, the Lord Mayor of Hamilton City and the Council President of Mount Hope. The municipal mayors are usually elected at large and their deputy mayors by and from among the district councillors.

The legislatures of cities and towns will tend to style themselves "x City Council" and "y Town Council," while villages will tend to style temselves "x Municipal Council" or even "x Council" to suggest equality of status if not of size. Because there is only one municipality in each province, Dundas Town Council styles itself as Dundas Council and Mount Hope Town Council as Mount Hope Council.

Councils in larger urban areas often have fewer legislators for more inhabitants than their smaller counterparts. Council business tends to be quicker and more to the point in smaller municipalities than in their larger counterparts.

The municipal councils in Hamilton Province all elect their council heads and their seconded Hamilton Provincial Councillors at large within the municipality. Most small municipal councils have single-member districts, but some larger municipal councils have two-member districts.

Politics

Pragmatism rather than ideology has characterised politics in Hamilton Ontario, which helps keep in in the UN Category of Inoffensive Centrist Democracy. The largest single party, as suggested by the national pretitle, is the National Democratic Party. It is a generally pro-labour party which realises who butters its bread, so it may be regarded as a tame or enlightenedly self-interested plebian party.

The patrician Business Party -- with strongholds in Westdale Town, Mount Hamilton City, Ancaster Town and Waterdown Town -- is able for the most part to contain its superior airs when participating in the political process. It represents most clearly the interests of capital and management, but has a good working relationship with the NDP with which it alternates as majority party.

The minor parties are effectively frozen out of power by a lack of proportional representation, however two urban and rural parties continue to organise and run campaigns. The radical Rights Now movement has some small success in Westdale Town, East Hamilton and Dundas Town with its pro-civil rights, anti-government oppression platforms. The absurdist Herbal Remedy movement has toeholds in Westdale Town, East Hamilton and Port Hamilton.

The agrarian Federation of Agriculture has some success in Glanbrook, Flamborough Province and rural Stoney Creek Province with its policies favouring agricultural owner-operators. However, its most likely prospects in rural Ancaster Province have been swept away by the religious-dominated Righteous Dominion party.

Armed forces

Main article: Hamilton Ontario Militia

Hamilton Ontario's armed forces operates in three environments (land, sea and air) and at three levels of activity (permanent, active and sedentary). For historical and philosophical reasons, the unitary forces are called The Hamilton Ontario Militia.

For every 25 million national residents, the land-based Permanent and Active militia raises one division of about 18 000 soldiers (with a ratio of about 1:5). If pressed during national crisis or actual wartime, the Sedentary Militia could be called up and trained to provide three more divisions. The land-based militia is organised into regiments, and various battalions are raised from these regiments as required. The main army base is in Hamilton City, with smaller ones at Stoney Creek City, Waterdown Town and Upper Hamilton City.

For every 25 million national residents, the Naval Militia raises enough warships to be crewed by 3 000 sailors. These warships are chosen for their suitability at the stage of national development, starting with small coastal defence craft early, working up to merchant escorts later, and finally surface combattants and aircraft carriers upon reaching about 1.5 billion inhabitants. Only about one quarter of the sailors are in the Permanent Naval Militia. The main naval base is in Port Hamilton with a much smaller one at Stoney Creek City.

For every 25 million national residents, the Air Militia raises one air group of about 100 aircraft and 4 000 fliers. Some of these are diverted to the operational control of the land- and sea-based militia. In times of extreme national effort, five times as many aircraft, flight crews and ground crews could be produced. About one third of the fliers are in the Permanent Air Militia. The main air base is at Mount Hope Town, with naval aviation at Port Hamilton and army aviation at Stoney Creek City.

Trespassers often find themselves impaled by crossbow bolts because while guns are banned, self-defence is not. Thankfully, the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare also keep crime down.

Irredentism

Significant portions of Hamilton Ontario’s territory were surrendered to neighbouring jurisdictions under rather murky circumstances. In order to avoid politically volatile situations, the nation begrudgingly surrendered its interest and citizens in the far west and near north of the country. Occasionally, extreme nationalists make bombastic claims and threaten to retake these territories by force, but official government policy is to avoid either sabre-rattling threats or crow-eating admissions.

The most populous and most strategic unredeemed territory is that of Aldershot, currently part of Halton. It now contains a large number of people, since it is located entirely below the Escarpment on a fertile alluvial plain. Furthermore, the territory threatens the maritime security of Hamilton Ontario since the former covers the northwest shore of Hamilton Harbour and the northern portion of the Hamilton Isthmus.

Of much less importance in general is the unredeemed territory of Clyde, currently part of Waterloo. It contains few people, is not especially strategic and has no valuable minerals. However, when the nation lost access to it, largely rural Beverly Province was amalgamated with Flamborough Province because it lost its “metropolis.”