Pastbeshchye

Pastbeshchye is one of the eleven constituent provinces of Sober Thought. The land is flat, which is how it got its nickname as the Plains Province and its Slavic proper name meaning much the same thing. Together with Jarvet, it forms the Flatland Provinces region. The prairie is broken up by several major river systems and tributaries which water the prairie grasses and crops and provide some of the excellent topsoil. Its settlement is much more even -- and thin! -- than most provinces.

Economy

Farming is the primary economic sector here, in both type of economy and importance. Indeed it has been said that irrigation ditches are the capillaries of the lifeblood of the province. Agriculture is taken as a serious business here, and every campus of the provincial university has a faculty of agriculture attached to it. Mining and a small amount of fossil fuel extraction round out the primary economy.

Besides the manufacture of agricultural implements, there is little secondary industry in the province. Similarly, the tertiary industry of services are mainly geared towards the agricultural sector with banking, insurance and telecommunications. The educational services sector is dominated by three privately-supported supported universities: the Université de Lesbaies caters to francophone students, Furstenburg University to business students, and the University of Lareine to fine and liberal arts students.

Quaternary industry, or government services, are not nearly as pervasive as those in Hochelaga but not nearly as sparse as those in Cholmestay. For details, see those sections below for state-sponsored education, health, police and militia.

Demographics

It has a fairly even population density and only four chartered cities: Chelyoost with 0.5% of the national population, Furstenburg with 0.4%, Lareine acting as capital with 0.6% and Lesbaies with 0.7%. Residents of the so-called metropolis are quick to tell outsiders the proper pronunciation of the city's name and origin: the town was named "the berries" and the name should not to be confused with female homosexuals or the bays.

The province was settled first by French speaking inhabitants from Hochelaga. Subsequent settlers were mostly Slavs, attracted by the cheap land and religious freedom. They formed a majority by the time the province joined Sober Thought, which is how the province got its name. Shortly after joining, German and English speaking people emigrated and left their mark on the province. Through assimilation, most people are now native anglophones with a significant number of francophones preserved as an official language minority.

For many years during the early settlement of the province, the age pyramid of Pastbeshchye was very flat with a few aged being buttressed by large numbers of younger people. Growing prosperity, secularisation and urbanisation simultaneously drove the death and birth rates, so now the pyramid is reflective of a mature and stable population.

Government and politics

As an artifact of the long-receded Slavic majority, the bicameral provincial legislature is called the Dooma and is presided over by a Predtsyedatel. The Upper House represents the regions equally, regions being defined as the four chartered municipalities and the four rural quarters of the province. The two most popular candidates, who officially do not represent parties but unofficially are often sponsored by them, are elected to represent the eight districts at large.

The Lower House represents the residents equally, the population densities making urban or chartered municipality ridings very compact and rural or unchartered ridings rather sprawling. Unlike the national legislature, these ridings are won by simple plurality or first-past-the-post. However, in order to more closely mimic proportional representation and to keep the rural ridings to a manageable size, there are many more districts than common in other provinces.

The legislature of each of the four chartered municipalities has a slightly different name and composition, but they all perform the functions of fire protection, waste management and parks. Consult the table below for details:

Pastbeshchye's politics tend to be fiscally conservative but socially moderate or liberal, so no national party is truly prevented from competing, although the Rural Alliance, Conservative Party and Socialist Party are especially active and successful in the provincial legislature and the provincial caucus in the House of the Federation.

Health

Pastbeshchye pioneered in Sober Thought the principle of socialised medicine with compulsory single-payer health insurance. Farmers voted for it because their seasonal and weather dependent occupation made it difficult to pay for health care out of pocket at inconvenient times, and urbanites because universal health care made a level playing field for employers in the cities. The Public Health Ministry represents the sort of practical socialism for which the province is famous, with broad support from all parties from the Socialist Party (Sober Thought) to the Rural Alliance (Sober Thought).

Each of the four chartered municipalities support a whole range of general, pediatric, chronic care and psychiatric hospitals. Some of the smaller unchartered settlements also support small general hospitals, but these are rarely economical because of the even but sparse settlement in the province. Since each campus of the provincial government-supported university system has a medical and allied sciences programme, there are teaching hospitals in each of the chartered municipalities.

Doctors are free to set up shop wherever they like and specialise in whatever they like, but there are incentives for underserviced areas or undersubscribed specialties. Urban areas can support group medical practices, walk-in clinics or both. Rural areas can usually support only lone or small group practitioners due to population density, however these doctors often have admission privileges to one or more of the regional hospitals.

Public education

Like other provinces, the content of primary, intermediate and secondary education is established by the Ministry of Community Connections in consultation with all the provinces. However, the means which the Ministry of Public Education delivers it differs widely in urban and rural areas. Furthermore, tertiary education is confined to the four chartered municipalities.

The cities have many schools of all three levels from which parents from across the city may choose to enroll their children. Children of all abilities physically remain in the same schools until the end of intermediate education, although many services are provided to students at either end of the achievement spectrum. This promotes a culture of social integration and appreciation of difference. Youth are divided by academic achievement throughout most secondary education. Some secondary schools specialising in such things as agronomy, performing arts, physical sciences and sports. These charter-type schools have admissions requirements which all students must meet.

The hinterland simultaneously offers more and less than its urban counterpart. Because of the great distances between even small settlements, education is provided at comprehensive schools up to the end of secondary school. This means that each school will have students of all abilities, and that most secondary schools will have several charter-type programmes within the school. The combined effect of these two facts creates a more integrated, communitarian and practical-oriented student body.

Unlike many other provinces -- and especially provinces with as high rates of religious identification and activity -- there is little privately or religiously funded education at the lower levels. This is because secular private schools do not appeal to the hardnosed socialism of most inhabitants, and religious private schools are unnecessary when most pupils receive their religious indoctrination at houses of worship.

The state-supported University of Pastbeshchye has campuses in each of the four chartered municipalities with the four core faculties of agricultural sciences, health sciences, social sciences and theoretical sciences. Additionally, there is one faculty each for applied sciences, commerce, fine arts, law, liberal arts, public policy and several other specialties spread around the various campuses.

Justice

Although the rural areas of neighbouring Cholmestay give that province its socially and economically competitive character, the rural areas of Pastbeshchye emphasise the socially and economic cooperative character instead. This is reflected in the civil law of the province which emphasising the central role of family in society and law, and its consequent rights and obligations. However, it is socially progressive in the way in which it defines families, including same sex couples and extended family as well.

The Ministry of Public Safety is responsible for enforcing criminal and civil law. The minister oversees the Pastbeschye Politsiya which has four provincial police areas, each with headquarters in one of the four chartered city. Each region is divided into several districts, including a local district for the HQ city. Each district in turn divided into a varying number of sections, with a number of posts at the lowest level.

Defence

As is the national standard, the federal government trains and equips the province's Civil Guard. The Pastbeshchye Public Safety Minister -- who is also responsible for the provincial police -- promotes officers up to the rank of Chief Commander, assuming they have the requisite Community Defence Forces qualifications.

Unlike any other province, when the Civil Guard is on provincial service, for example during a natural disaster or to restore public order, the militia is subordinated to the police. The four area police Generals command such units as the Minister of Public Safety allots.

Pastbeshchye raises three battalions for every 100 million residents of Sober Thought:

• one battalion, The Pastbeshchye Horse, tank regiment earmarked for [[5 series

divisions]] of armoured infantry;

• one Security Battalion, including one company each from The Pastbeshchye Scouts, The Pastbeshchye Provosts and The Pastbeshchye Analysts for the 5 series divisions;
• and one battalion, The Pastbeshchye Teamsters, transport for the 5 series divisions.

The battalions all have separate ordinal sequences, as do the three types of companies in the security battalion.