Challenge? A larger Canadian population

Not really a challenge more like "help". I'm doing a TL for an OOTP league (a sports-sim; I wish I could do hockey but alas no such program exists with the customization options I need..) I plan on starting once school calms down and it'd be fun to rationalize some of the things I planned on including in it. With a PoD in and around 1900, without any major (1) territorial changes that the population of Canada could be somewhere closer to 40/50 million (or even higher?) I imagine this is possible, so how?

I'll leave the PoD as "light". I posted this in the After 1900s section but you can stretch it back as far as you need to, but use a bit of discretion. For instance, a no Acadien Expulsion PoD is totally open (I know it'd have wide-ranging effects iotl but we're just speculating so spare me exhaustive specifics) or alternate provinces going back to Confederation or pre-Confederation is welcome. Just keep the territory roughly similar- in fact, if possible keep it as OTL.

In addition to these hefty demands, it would be great if several smaller metropolitan areas in OTL Canada could be bulging around or at at least a million people in this scenario. I'm thinking here of:

- Hamilton
- Winnipeg
- Halifax
- Québec

Bonus points if you can rationalize a population close to or consisting of this amount in any city in Saskatchewan; any city other than Calgary or Edmonton in Alberta; Moncton, NB; any other city in B.C. (Victoria?) Supreme bonus points if you can rationalize a city in Cape Breton (Sydney, something built over Louisbourg), Newfoundland or the North approaching this size.

(1) By territorial changes I'm mostly referring to Canada somehow annexing portions of the United States or something else weird like that. Roughly, the territory should be close to that of Canada IOTL though I love creativity so there's room open.

There might be holes in this scenario, but here goes...

Canada takes European Jews during WWII? Hundreds of thousands of Jews from France and Italy and the Low Countries flee to Portugal to hop of the boats going from Lisbon to Halifax, where most end up putting down roots.

Despite some crimes that would inevitably be committed by narrow-minded Canadians (who actually exist), Canada gains a reputation for being Jewish friendly. Thousands more from other repressive countries (Soviet Union?) flee to Canada as well, and by 1960 Canada has one the largest Jewish population in the world. About 2/3 live in Canada's larger cities, while the remainder live in small town Ontario and the Maritimes.

Snowballing out from being more liberal towards Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, Canada becomes much more immigrant friendly than OTL, and from 1980 onwards it maintains a level of immigration between 300-400,000 immigrants yearly.

KingByng said:

Canada takes European Jews during WWII? Hundreds of thousands of Jews from France and Italy and the Low Countries flee to Portugal to hop of the boats going from Lisbon to Halifax, where most end up putting down roots.

Despite some crimes that would inevitably be committed by narrow-minded Canadians (who actually exist), Canada gains a reputation for being Jewish friendly. Thousands more from other repressive countries (Soviet Union?) flee to Canada as well, and by 1960 Canada has one the largest Jewish population in the world. About 2/3 live in Canada's larger cities, while the remainder live in small town Ontario and the Maritimes.

Snowballing out from being more liberal towards Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, Canada becomes much more immigrant friendly than OTL, and from 1980 onwards it maintains a level of immigration between 300-400,000 immigrants yearly.

Click to expand...

I can see French Jews (and maybe North African ones too) settling in Quebec. And maybe after the war Britain actively encourages Jewish migration to Canada, to prevent the massive flow of refugees reaching Israel. This may have interesting butterflies.

There are two PODs I actually saw in this forum, both of which I do not remember who came up with. Maybe the ones could claim inventorship later...

The first is France sending its Huguenots into Nouvelle France, significantly increasing the population at a very early stage. This POD has the potential, though, to make Canada majority-French or even to butterfly away Canada as a whole.

The second is that the loyalists are actively expelled from the US during and after the ACW or during 1812, thus many more end in Canada than IOTL.

Midas

The simplest solution might be something that causes poorer relations between Britain/Canada and the US. Historically Canada attracted a lot of settlers who later moved south, along with a lot of native born Canadians. Simply the much larger market and better climate of the south gives much better economic prospects.

This would be better with a POD before 1900 to be done as early as possible and attractive more settlers and investment. If you can get a few more in then this can snowball significantly as that gives Canada a larger and richer home base and hence makes it more attractive to later settlers. Also it would mean it's more likely that British settlers and some investment would be directed to Canada rather than the US.

I'm not suggesting one or more major wars as that is likely to see dramatic border changes one way or the other. However possibly a limited clash earlier on which results in a couple of generations of bad feeling between the US and Britain would fit fine. Possible the old suggest of a Trent Crisis that goes hot if that's not too early. [This would have further bonuses if as a result the confederacy gains independence. That would fit in with the ill-feeling from the US and weaken the US, especially if it had knock on social and economic effects that make it less attractive to settlers].

Other points might be Jewish settlement both ~1930/40 and possibly more usefully say in the late 19thC for Jews fleeing the Russian pogroms. Could be do to some combination of a desire to settle Canada and say Rothschild family influence seeking to help their fellow Jews escape from the Russians. If enough of them moved to Canada that it attracted others later then that might be the preferred destination for later settlers rather than the US.

You might be able to do this with other groups as well but don't know what other options might be available. Again the key thing would be to make it a better option as compared to the US. [Another option here might be if something like the 1870 rebellions that occurred in Ofaloaf's excellent 'War of the Classes' TL occurs so that the US is a lot less hostile to immigrants from Europe].

Another option might be to allow greater settlement from E Asia, [Japan and China] but this would probably be very difficult with racial views at the time.

Steve