Great Britain buys Alaska: How much stronger does Canada becomes

[Sawaiki]

I mean, yes, those have been argued, but they're not exactly the mainstream view, which is that Alaska has paid for itself several times over.


Even if it is, Britain is wealthier (less in loan money) and it's possible (I'd argue probable) that Alaska gets incorporated into another unit of Canada (panhandle to BC, the rest as part of the NW territories at first), which would cut down upon on the administrative expenses.

And *Canada's tax breaks to and companies in the area will, at the very least, be different from the US's.

 

[anotherlurker]

canada wouldnt be stronger with or without alaska.

now on the other hand if there was some kind of war between the usa and the british empire where canada ends up with new england and the whole west coast...

 

[Tyr]

I think the odds are good it would still be a pretty conservative place.
Resource extraction economies for some reason tend to be- Alberta is the most conservative part of OTL Canada I understand.

Butterflies would loom large. Its hard to say where they would blow.
Assuming an ASB butterfly net however, then it could be interesting for the Russian Civil War. It would really prod Britain to get involved in the east.

 

[Widukind]

I think the odds are good it would still be a pretty conservative place.
Resource extraction economies for some reason tend to be- Alberta is the most conservative part of OTL Canada I understand.

One theory is that urban areas are more 'progressive' than rural areas because large cities tend to attract mirgants from all over the world. This means such areas become...well... cosmopolitan: culturally diverse and heterogenous in every way. Rural areas, on the other hand, tend to be homogenous and monocultural. That makes conservatism much more likely.

Needless to say, there are exceptions... but it seems to be true in many cases (even within urban areas, Dutch studies have shown that culturally/ethnically diverse neighborhoods are noticably more progressive than homogenous neighborhoods).

So all in all, yeah: Alaska is likely to tend towards conservatism, regardless of wether it's part of Canada or the USA.

 

[British Republic]

Canada has to deal with Prime Minister Sarah Palin

Stronger ties with Russia ... Maybe able to be the port of call for Nicholas and his family to flee the revolution.

Will make it richer with oil.

Her parents moved from Idaho, in this ATL they would be moving to Alaska...

 

[wietze]

As it say's, England buys Alaska from Russia. How does this affects Canada?

Not sure if they were willing to sell it to the uk, maybe the uk nabs it after the crimean war?

 

[brokenman]

Wikipedia reports about the financial return of the Alaska purchase:

"Economist David R. Barker (in 2010) has argued that the U.S. federal government has not earned a positive financial return on the purchase of Alaska. According to Barker, tax revenue and mineral and energy royalties to the federal government have been less than federal costs of governing Alaska plus interest on the borrowed funds used for the purchase"

"John M. Miller has taken the argument further (also in 2010), contending that U.S. oil companies that developed Alaskan petroleum resources did not earn profits sufficient to compensate for the risks they have incurred."

In the end
a) Canada would be weaker
b) US would be stronger
c) The Russians were smart

Err, could you get something to back up your source's claims? Perhaps a list of causes of why oil companies hadn't profited from their Alaskan investments?

 

[panderson]

Err, could you get something to back up your source's claims? Perhaps a list of causes of why oil companies hadn't profited from their Alaskan investments?

Here there are the sources

http://www.news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/november/David Barker-Alaska.pdf

Miller, John. "The Last Alaskan Barrel: An Arctic Oil Bonanza that Never Was"

 

[hzn5pk]

Without Alaska, Texans have even more to brag about.

There would be no cool T-shirts saying mine is bigger than yours, except for Alaska. It would just be mine is bigger than yours.

 

[Fordicus]

The Russians were very aware of how American settlers in Texas revolted. After the Crimea, the Russians severely hated the English. Remember the Russian fleets that spent a long season in 1863 in New York and San Francisco's harbors? With sealed orders to submit themselves to the service of Lincoln if any European nation attempted to intervene? Russia repeatedly rejected overtures from France to intervene on the side of the confederacy and made it clear that intervention in the ACW meant war with Russia. Also, remember that Britain stirred up a rebellion in Poland against Russian rule. Not a friendly relationship there at all.

 

[Heisenberg]

OTL there was an attempted claim on Wrangel Island in the 1920s, but it received little attention from anyone outside the actual expedition that was trapped there and it was abandoned to the Soviets. That might change iTTL, due to it now being in near proximity to Canadian territory.

Even if it is, Britain is wealthier (less in loan money) and it's possible (I'd argue probable) that Alaska gets incorporated into another unit of Canada (panhandle to BC, the rest as part of the NW territories at first), which would cut down upon on the administrative expenses.

If always thought Alaska would be cut up like so:

 

[Enigmajones]

As it say's, England buys Alaska from Russia. How does this affects Canada?

Wont Scotland, Wales and Ireland be rather ticked at the prospect of a solely English colony?

 

[Beedok]

One theory is that urban areas are more 'progressive' than rural areas because large cities tend to attract mirgants from all over the world. This means such areas become...well... cosmopolitan: culturally diverse and heterogenous in every way. Rural areas, on the other hand, tend to be homogenous and monocultural. That makes conservatism much more likely.

Needless to say, there are exceptions... but it seems to be true in many cases (even within urban areas, Dutch studies have shown that culturally/ethnically diverse neighborhoods are noticably more progressive than homogenous neighborhoods).

So all in all, yeah: Alaska is likely to tend towards conservatism, regardless of wether it's part of Canada or the USA.

Canada's NDP were traditionally a rural and western socialist party. In the resource rich and mostly smallish city region of Northern Ontario they tend to dominate at both federal and provincial elections. I suspect that Alsaka, populated mostly by a smattering of small to medium sized cities with a significant native population and plenty of resources would have a good chance of closely mimicking Northern Ontario.

Speaking of Natives, I'm guessing that there'd probably be a higher percentage of the region being native (the Yukon is ~25% Native vs. OTL Alaska's ~15%). Immigration would probably have been slower to start up as well, so the population would probably be lower but growing faster (with a fair number of asian immigrants).

 

[General Tirpitz]

One theory is that urban areas are more 'progressive' than rural areas because large cities tend to attract mirgants from all over the world. This means such areas become...well... cosmopolitan: culturally diverse and heterogenous in every way. Rural areas, on the other hand, tend to be homogenous and monocultural. That makes conservatism much more likely.

Needless to say, there are exceptions... but it seems to be true in many cases (even within urban areas, Dutch studies have shown that culturally/ethnically diverse neighborhoods are noticably more progressive than homogenous neighborhoods).

So all in all, yeah: Alaska is likely to tend towards conservatism, regardless of wether it's part of Canada or the USA.

Finnish industrial towns which have drawn people from longer distances have often become much more left-wing than those which have been dependent on workforce from nearby areas. This can be mostly explained by the fact that those areas where people have moved from other parts of the country, the factory was the most natural place to create new social connections. Those who moved only few kilometers to a nearby town OTOH usually stayed in a much closer contact with people in the countryside.