Difference between revisions of "Hochelaga"

Revision as of 00:48, 11 October 2005

The Province of Hochelaga is the second most populous province of Sober Thought with 23.3% of the national population and is where most francophones in the country live. It was a charter member of the Community of and it contributed territory to create Capital Province. French is the sole official language for the province as a whole, but the charter municipality of Kingsmount gives equal status to English within its boundaries.

Regional geography

Hochelaga is landlocked and contains 23.3% of the population of Sober Thought. The eponymous provincial capital is a respectably-sized francophone city of 1.6%.

The provincial metropolis is the francophone Ville de Mont Royaume of 6.0%. One fifth of the population of Montroy (as the French city is colloquially known), mainly anglophones, seceded from the municipality to create Kingsmount with 1.6%.

Thoughout the rest of the province there are five French-only municipalities: Comté de Caguenai (north of Hochelaga) of 0.5%, Ville de Gouinshau (east of Montroy) of 0.6%, Ville de Longueoreille (south of Montroy) of 1.0%, Comté de Mit-en-Bas (beside Capital Province) 0.3% and Ville de Trifleuville (between Hochelaga and Montroy) of 0.5%.

Economy and culture

The business and cultural elite of Hochelaga are directly represented in the provincial legislature through representatives chosen by their self-governing bodies. Consequentally, legislative log-rolling is common and subsidies to commercial or artistic ventures are high.

Freewheeling capitalists from outside the province are reluctant to invest because of the high tax rate and frequent changes of provincial government. However, domestic investors -- motivated in part by Hochelaga pride -- ensure the economy is vibrant and sometimes reaches the national median.

Government

Federal representatives

Hochelaga has 55 single-member constituencies for which they elect members to federal House of the Federation. Additionally, 14 members are elected proportionally to more closely reflect the popular vote in the constituency elections. Hochelaga gets five seats in the federal House of the Provinces, chosen by the ever-changing provincial premier.

Provincial government

The Assemblée du Hochelaga is large and unwieldy, having seven separate classes of deputés representing various interests. Each of the 127 deputies have an equal voice in the assembly, although the 37 corporatist deputies must of course remember that they can be removed from their positions by their sponsoring body. Consult the chart below for class, number of MAHs, and means of initial election and replacement:

Collectively, all deputies are formally responsible for choosing one of their number as the Premier ministre du Hochelaga. In practice, the party leader of the largest party or coalition represented in the Assembly becomes Prime Minister. The Assembly expires in five years, but often there have already been several unsuccessful and likely one successful attempts to topple the government before that time.

Municipal governments

Cities are governed in a somewhat more straightforward manner, although they often resemble parts of the provincial government. The municipal councils are styled like Conseil de Trifleuville and those with at least 1.0% are divided into arrondisements (which do not necessarily coincide with city council electoral boundaries). They Maire are elected from across the municipality and Sous-maire from across the arrondisement.

Kingsmount alone has a more straightforward and transparent municipal legislature: stable districts return one member each, and the serving City Councillors choose a Mayor from among their number.

Shared jurisdictions

Defence

The Garde civil is trained and equipped at federal expense as Community Defence Forces, but its members are paid by Hochelaga. French is the exclusive language to higher formations and with the first 13 of every 14 battalions raised. The Civil Guard Minister promotes officers in the Lieutenant group and the Prime Minister those in the Commander group, assuming the candidates have their CDF qualifications.

There are four French infantry regiments: Chasseurs à pied (urban light infantry), Chasseurs alpinists (mountain light infantry), Chasseurs à cheval (heavy infantry) and Fusiliers Mont Royaume (infantry of whatever type required). All French armoured battalions belong to the Cuirassiers du Hochelaga.

French gunners are organized into the Régiment d’artillerie du Hochelaga and French engineers into the Régiment de génie du Hochelaga. French support units are raised by four regiments: Régiment des transports du Hochelaga, Régiment de provision du Hochelaga, Régiment de securité du Hochelaga and Régiment de santé du Hochelaga.

Every twelfth battalion raised in Hochelaga uses English within is own unit. The sequentially numbered English speaking battalions are all part of the Kingsmount Regiment and bear in parentheses the branch (or in the case of support battalions, the sub-branch) they represent.

Each time Sober Thought increases by 100 million, Hochelaga raises 23 Civil Guard battalions. Thus, the first wave would raise: 1ière–3e bataillons à Cheval; 1st Battalion, Kingsmount Regiment ([Heavy] Infantry); 1ière–2e bataillons à Pied; 1e bataillon Alpinistes; 1ière–3e bataillons Cuirassiers; 1ière, 3e and 4e bataillons d’Artillerie (champs); 2e bataillons d’Artillerie (aérienne); 1ière–4e bataillons de Génie; 1ière bataillon de Securité; 1ière–2e bataillons des Transports; 1ière bataillons de Provision; 1ière bataillons de Santé. Subsequent waves would finish raising the four missing battalions for a conventional division, then raise 19 more for a second division with the ordinal sequence in each regiment resuming where it left off in the first wave.

Education

Tuition free public education is offered in French only at the primary, intermediate, secondary and college levels. Collèges municipales are located in each chartered French municipality, and tuition costs are waived for those resident at least three years and who graduated from a public secondary school in the province.

Tuition charging pubic education is offered at the Université du Hochelaga (campuses in all French municipalities) with tuition costs reduced in a similar manner to the national formula. Kingsmount College was founded by the municipal government and restricts its entrance to English speaking residents and charges about half of its French university counterpart.

Private religious education at or below the secondary level is uncommon, although Catholic parochial schools are still active in more rural and conservative areas. The Universités catholiques de Hochelaga and Mont Royaume serve those two cites, the former in the capital being more prestigious.

Private secular education at or below the secondary level is only common for after-hours English classes in Kingsmount. Oddly, while the private secular Université de Mont Royaume University became part of Kingsmount, it retains its traditional name in its new municipality. The French only private business schoool École supérieure du Commerce operates in Mont Royaume proper.

Transportation

Railways are used for most long distance cargo transport, but the large cities are choked with cars. Large airports serve the capital and the metropolis while small airstrips serving the remainder of the chartered municipalities and a few unorganized settlements.

Exclusive jurisdictions

Justice

The Sûreté du Hochelaga is widely believed to be an ineffectual if not corrupt organization. Police officers report, if they feel like it, to the Commandant policier in each of the chartered cities and in a few of the unchartered settlements or to the notorious Comamandant policier en chef in Mont Royaume.

Despite problems on the law enforcement side, the actual civil law in Hochelaga is very liberal, especially in family law. In many ways, it is the polar opposite of Jarvet’s highly moralist and controlled civil law. Criminal law (created federally) is unevenly applied in the province.

Health

The Ministère du Bien-être spends vast sums of public money on hospitals, clinics, outreach and self-help programs. While there are some user fees levied, most services are free regardless of their apparent utility because of the Wellness Ministry’s holistic approach. Private health care is available for those who can afford it.

Natural resources

The government had historically mismanaged the natural resources of the province, but it recent times it has taken a more conservation-minded approach to mineral extraction and forestry. Consequently, eco-tourism has flourished at little expense to existing industry.