Sure. I haven't seen any actual polls, but Northern Ontarians seem to be amenable to this, becoming a provincial capital would be good for Thunder Bay, and it might make the Ontario NDP more urban-focused.
I happened to catch a TV interview about this last night and was interested to notice that there does not seem to be a firm consensus on what is and what is not Northern Ontario (although that might have been simply to deny responsibility for having produced Mike Harris).
The reason I put in the province/territory choice is that a new territory can be created by the federal government (although in this case I'd assume Ontario would be involved too) but a new province sadly seems to require a federal/provincial agreement on par with, oh, Meech or Charlottetown.
Thunder Bay isn't even IN Northern Ontario! (It's NORTH, sure, but it's more of a weird thing off to the side.)
The capital should clearly be Sudbury. Or, to keep with the tradition of making a relatively insignificant two the capital instead of the main economic powerhouse, Timmins.
Growing up in Southeastern Pennsylvania, my father occasionally mused on dynamiting along the NJ border and replacing the "Garden State" with California. I think he'd like replacing it with northern Ontario even better.
Doesn't stripping off NO violate the "Every non-bluenoser Canadian province shall contain more howling wilderness than inhabited land" rule?
One of the major differences between the USA and Canada is in the USA, they are nostalgic for the "closed off by the spread of civilization[1]" wild frontier that "defined their nation," while in Canada the wild frontier is usually less than half a day's drive from whatever part of civilization you are currently in and yet virtually no one actually wants to live there. Visiting to camp/fish/hunt is acceptable, as are temp jobs with high salaries in resource extraction.
Now making NO a separate territory would leave the convenient frontier, but you'd have to cross a provincial border, and they'd probably want to inspect for rats or something.
[1] They tend to ignore Alaska, perhaps because it is cold, or not contiguous, or too near Russian ICBM silos.
There are these places in the U.S. called "the Adirondacks", "the Alleghenies", "the North Woods" (yes I know), "the Mojave", "West Virginia" and so forth.
Perhaps visiting a small mountain which has had its top half sheared off by coal mining (causing its local aboriginal Celt population to seek solace in crystal meth) is not quite the same as visiting Hydro-Quebec installations or Mennonite farms in muskeg country. But it's pretty close.
Replace provincial government service-delivery functions with either city government service delivery (which do most of the function delivery now anyway) or regional government service delivery.
Environment, business, and health regulation/expectations get harmonized. (Education, too, but education suffers greatly from a fixed notion of school and the existence of public funding for religious education, both of which should be changed, but possibly not at this time.)
Cities (which have a population and economic activity definition; one wants to ensure a real, import-replacing city, but also that it can't get too large without being split for representation regions) get 3 elected senators. Regions get 2 elected senators; regions have a population + area definition. Stuff that can't be a region is administered by the Crown. The appointed senate goes away.
And yes, it would be a tough sell. But if one is going to open the constitutional Pandora's Box, one might as well get some work done.
How about if Toronto, and Montreal, became city-provinces. The rest of Quebec would have enough people and unity to be a province, and the rest of Ontario could be two, the Golden Horseshoe, and Northern Ontario.
A few years ago, I thought I saw a proposal for Quebec to split from Canada and join the US. Yeah, cause the US is going to be so sympathetic to Quebec's language concerns.
Drawing on James' posts seems like a good way to build a new nation. In that spirit, after joining Texas, the new nation should unite with Turks and Caicos.
That would seem to be counterproductive, as Northern Ontario's beef is people in Southern Ontario don't pay it any attention on account of it being too far. Besides, IIRC, the Cree in Northern Quebec also have a mild secessionist movement going.
"Northern Ontario is eighty billion kilometers long. There are 13 people who live there, all of whom are named 'Frank'. Even the girl. (She's very popular.)" -- The Arrogant Worms
Sure, northern Ontario could be its own territory, if it'd help alleviate some of the really nasty service-delivery problems and logistical issues surrounding too much space with too few people in it.
I'm personally more in favour of turning Toronto into its own city-province, albeit not exactly with the same clout as the rest of the provinces, because Toronto already swings too much weight as it is. That would essentially cut Toronto loose from the rest of Ontario and let non-Torontonians of all stripes have more of a say about what goes on in the province. I love you guys, but contrary to popular (Torontonian) belief, you're not the centre of the universe (nor do you outnumber the rest of us, even if we spot you the entire GTA).
I have heard people commute to Toronto from as far away as Hamilton so should every part of Ontario that is within that range be part of the province of Toronto.
The northern territories should be extended to include all of the sparsely-occupied parts of the provinces. I guess this is pretty close to making a new territory.
That would essentially be turning back the borders approximately 100 years, to the point where northern Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec were part of the territories. Although that would have just been the Patricia region of Ontario (not all of NO).
For the most part the Northern parts of Ontario are treated differently... they're not "territories" though, they're "districts". Districts are a bit different than counties... for one thing, they are almost entirely made up of Unorganized Areas.
I am glad to see the master plan is progressing...
Once N.O. is created and the Canadians have all been relocated there, the US can finalize it's annexation of S.O. and Quebec to make room for the Americans that are driven north by global warming and the Reconquista of the southwest.
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The capital should clearly be Sudbury. Or, to keep with the tradition of making a relatively insignificant two the capital instead of the main economic powerhouse, Timmins.
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One of the major differences between the USA and Canada is in the USA, they are nostalgic for the "closed off by the spread of civilization[1]" wild frontier that "defined their nation," while in Canada the wild frontier is usually less than half a day's drive from whatever part of civilization you are currently in and yet virtually no one actually wants to live there. Visiting to camp/fish/hunt is acceptable, as are temp jobs with high salaries in resource extraction.
Now making NO a separate territory would leave the convenient frontier, but you'd have to cross a provincial border, and they'd probably want to inspect for rats or something.
[1] They tend to ignore Alaska, perhaps because it is cold, or not contiguous, or too near Russian ICBM silos.
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Perhaps visiting a small mountain which has had its top half sheared off by coal mining (causing its local aboriginal Celt population to seek solace in crystal meth) is not quite the same as visiting Hydro-Quebec installations or Mennonite farms in muskeg country. But it's pretty close.
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Replace provincial government service-delivery functions with either city government service delivery (which do most of the function delivery now anyway) or regional government service delivery.
Environment, business, and health regulation/expectations get harmonized. (Education, too, but education suffers greatly from a fixed notion of school and the existence of public funding for religious education, both of which should be changed, but possibly not at this time.)
Cities (which have a population and economic activity definition; one wants to ensure a real, import-replacing city, but also that it can't get too large without being split for representation regions) get 3 elected senators. Regions get 2 elected senators; regions have a population + area definition. Stuff that can't be a region is administered by the Crown. The appointed senate goes away.
And yes, it would be a tough sell. But if one is going to open the constitutional Pandora's Box, one might as well get some work done.
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Why? Because it's much more amusing that way.
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:)
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MAO
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I'm personally more in favour of turning Toronto into its own city-province, albeit not exactly with the same clout as the rest of the provinces, because Toronto already swings too much weight as it is. That would essentially cut Toronto loose from the rest of Ontario and let non-Torontonians of all stripes have more of a say about what goes on in the province. I love you guys, but contrary to popular (Torontonian) belief, you're not the centre of the universe (nor do you outnumber the rest of us, even if we spot you the entire GTA).
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For the most part the Northern parts of Ontario are treated differently... they're not "territories" though, they're "districts". Districts are a bit different than counties... for one thing, they are almost entirely made up of Unorganized Areas.
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I live in Toronto.
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Northward Ho! in 3... 2... 1...
Once N.O. is created and the Canadians have all been relocated there, the US can finalize it's annexation of S.O. and Quebec to make room for the Americans that are driven north by global warming and the Reconquista of the southwest.