Ministry of Community Connections

The Ministry of Community Connections is one of the four superdepartments of the federal government of Sober Thought. It is responsible for fostering the physical and psychological links between the community and its constituent provinces, and among the provinces.

It has four vice ministries: culture, communications, transport and provincial cooperation. It has the usual three general directorates reporting to the minister: policy, personnel and procurement.

Vice Ministry of Communications

Main articles: Sober Thought Post and InfoST.

The Chief Directorate of Broadcast Communications regulates radio, television and any other future passive transmissions through suborindate directorates. Radio and television licences, as scarce commodities for technical reasons, are granted to those private organisations and businesses who meet community standards for public service. Since print communications are not such scarce commodities for purely technical reasons, they are left to regulate themselves within the usual constraints of libel law.

A separate Chief Directorate is responsible for the government-owned three-platform broadcasting service which operates at arms length from the vice ministry and the rest of the government. Its corporate identity is InfoST.

The federal government assigns television Channel 1 to its own InfoST and Channel 2 to any similar provincial agency or left unused if not applicable. Channels 3 through 10 are available for various private sector information or education purposes. Channels 11 and above licenced to entertainment and sports applicants on a first come, first served basis. Similarly, InfoST gets the choice AM 1000 and FM 100 spots, any provincial counterparts AM 1200 and FM 102, with those over and under these assigned to private sector broadcasters.

The Chief Directorate of Telecommunications regulates internet, telephone, telegraph and any other future interactive transmissions. Obviously, convergence means that such fine distinctions are increasingly difficult to maintain, but the vice ministry tries to do so based on the intent of the communication device, not on its technical composition. Telephone numbers are assigned thusly: 0 + leftmost digit(s) per billion or part + 0 + eight digit local telephone number.

The Chief Directorate of Postal Communications operates the government-owned mail service in Sober Thought. Even in an electronic age, sometimes only paper will do. Regional directors are responsible for international post, Central Province, Hochelaga, Thuvia, Capital Province, the Coastal Provinces and the Northern Provinces.

Vice Ministry of Culture

Main article: Sober Thought Cultural Institutions

Culture directly maintains federal museums, libraries, archives and other cultural institutions while indirectly supporting like-minded ventures. The vice ministry also indrectly supports the arts and amateur sports.

The Cultural Institutions Chief Directorate includes separate directorates for archives, libraries, museums and national historic sites. National institutions related to each of these directorates are directly financed in full for their staff, programmes, contents and buildings. Provincial institutions may receive direct cash or indirect in-kind contributions for general or specific purposes which are consistent with the national objectives. It also maintains cooperative relations with the Vice Ministry of Education.

The arts refer more to the organisations and individuals involved in non-profit artistic endeavours, rather than the buildings they may work in. The Arts Chief Directorate does not support national arts institutions directly in the way its counterpart does cultural institutions. However, project funding is directed towards aritsts individually and collectively based on juried arts evaluations.

Similarly, sports refer to amateur or non-profit sporting athletes and organisers. The Sports Chief Directorate does not offer blanket support for any sports team or athlete; each competitor and organisation must apply for assistance on a case-by-case basis. The only standing claim on the federal treasury for sports is amateur sports for children and youth, which have at least a global amount of money allocated each year which is sub-divided on the basis of effective delivery of service.

Vice Ministry of Transport

Main articles: CommunitAir, STaqua and STferro

The Chief Directorate of Transportation Safety is a general regulatory agency responsible to the proposed United Nations Transportation Safety Agency. It has directorates for land, water and air safety.

Constitutionally, air transport is a wholly federal responsibility so it has its own Chief Directorate with Directorates for airports, aircraft, and flight crew and ground crew. Additionally, it operates CommunitAir as a Community corporation.

Similarly, water transport also has its own Chief Directorate with subsidary ports, freshwater craft, saltwater craft, and water transport workers. The Community corporation for water travel is STaqua.

However, land transportation is constitutionally a provincial responsibility, so the Community shares its interest in road and rail transportation with the provinces through two directorates in the Vice Ministry of Provincial Cooperation. The joint federal-provincial corporation for rail travel is STferro.

Vice Ministry of Provincial Cooperation

For geographical sectors, there are eleven directors are responsible for coordinating relations with each province. Vice ministry personnel are also frequently seconded to the Civil Guard chief directorate at the Ministry of Community Defence.

For policy sectors, there are chief directorates for education, police, transport and natural resources cooperation. The Chief Directorate of Education Cooperation is mainly staffed by people seconded from the Education Vice Ministry in the Ministry of Community Wellbeing and its structure is similar. However, the branch of government for each task drops one level, e.g., the Chief Directorate of Tertiary Education in the MCW becomes the Directorate of Tertiary Education Cooperation in the MCC.

The Chief Directorate of Police Coooperation has directorates for criminal intelligence, international police relations, as well as centralised agencies for counterterrorism, biometric analysis and the central criminal registry. Many of its staff are seconded from the Vice Ministry of Justice in the Ministry of Community Wellbeing.

The Chief Directorate of Transport Cooperation has directorates for rail and highway transport coooperation, each with vice directorates for transportation corridors, transportation vehicles and vehicle operators. It works closely in cooperation with the Vice Ministry of Transport which has constitutional authority in water and air transportation.

The Chief Directorate of Natural Resources Cooperation tries to coordinate policies with the provinces regarding the exploitation of forests, fossil fuels, minerals and the like. As such, it relies on secondments from the Vice Ministry of the Environment in the Ministry of Community Prosperity for many of its experts.