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     Capital of Canada under the Airborne Regiment.

Origin

Pre-War

     There were only 534 people living here in 1989, in 300 homes. Most employment was with the Canadian Pacific railroad, or at the tank farm 4 kilometers southeast of town (the Hardisty Terminal), on the other side of the Battle River; several oil pipelines converged on the tank farm, which had a storage capacity of six million barrels. The town had an elementary school (but no high school), a bank, a couple of restaurants and grocery stores, a couple of bars, and a post office; a small paved airstrip was 6 kilometers southwest of the town. There were five full-time employees of the town government. There was a large Canadian Pacific rail yard north of the town, usually with a large number of oil tank cars (typically five trains of 120 cars each).

     The Hardisty Terminal was one of the major crude oil hubs in North America.

In actual history, the terminal is the northern origin of the proposed Keystone crude oil pipeline project.

Post-War

     Fortunately, the town was not struck by any Soviet warheads.

Currently

     Canada's largest city and capital, it's a sooty, gray and polluted refinery town. The town has a certain "boom town" atmosphere.

Population

     Ony 800 in 2100, the town has grown to 8,000 by 2140. About 5,000 of the population are industrial and refinery workers hired by the Canadian government in the last twenty years or so. Half of the town's population live in what were intended to be temporary housing -- sheds and shacks, old truck trailers and mobile homes, railway boxcars, and other decrepit lodgings. Rooming houses and hotels provide homes for the more fortunate temporary inhabitants -- the National Hotel has fifty rooms for rent.

     Hundreds of prostitutes, gamblers, saloon-keepers, con men, dancers, musicians, cultists, etc. work on the Hastings Line, a three-block-long area on the edge of town. It's by far and away the highest concentration of seedy businesses in Canada. Less unsavory are the many restaurants, doctors (and quacks), lawyers, tailors, photographers, auto repair shops, printshops, stables, plumbers, brickyards, breweries and distilleries, refrigeration plants, carpenters, etc.

     A United Church, and a couple of smaller Protestant chapels, are present. 

Locations and Points of Interest

Gray tone is the "downtown" area, with commercial and government buildings.

     The main, Ancient portion of the town is composed of about twenty blocks.

Organization

Government, National and Local

     The town has a mayor, appointed by the Airborne Regiment, and six councilors chosen by land owners.

     The national treasury, Colonel's House, Security Branch HQ, etc. are based here. A warehouse holds a dozen or so of the Morrow Industries cryoberths used by Project Paragon -- they are dusty and rarely visited.

     The town itself has a courthouse, police station and jail.

     There are two fire departments -- one in the town proper, and one at the refinery -- and a hospital. A couple of libraries hold large but rather random collections of books from before the Atomic War.

Justice, Social Control, Punishment

     The nation's largest urban police force, 40 men, is usually overwhelmed by events on the Hastings Line. There are twenty or thirty murders in a typical year, with an unknown number of other disappearances, deaths from unknown causes, and traffic accidents -- the town has North America's highest motor vehicle urban accident rate.

Famous/Infamous Persons

     Outside of the Hastings Line, it's pretty much "the same as Canada".

Education, Language and Literacy

     There's an elementary school and a high school for the small number of children in the town. The rather disorganized "Hardisty College" was established in 2118 by the government to teach technical and engineering skills -- their somewhat dangerous chemistry classes are a vital part of the nation's economy.

Equipment and Resources

Economy

     Trade tokens are handed out as advertisements by the dance halls, brothels, etc. on the Lines; these circulate fairly widely in Hardisty, and somewhat elsewhere in Canada. They're usually brass, with a nominal face value of 25 cents or less.

     The oil pipelines leading to Hardisty are very leaky. Pools of oil ooze up to the surface, especially after the rains. Most drinking water is brought in by rail -- the water table is polluted with sewage and oil.

     Canada has poorly-organized and enforced patent, corporate and business laws; they're fine for stores, mines, and small industries, but the burgeoning petrochemical industry has outgrown the ability of courts and the government to control and monitor them. Shady stock and bond schemes, crooked stock brokers, patent shenanigans, and some plain fly-by-night businesses are all too common. Union organizing is forbidden by the national government.

     The refinery and several chemical plants are owned by the government; but many other laboratories and production facilities are owned by private industry. In 2140, 225,700 barrels of refined petroleum worth $2,369,977 was produced. The only "mass production" plants for sulfuric acid are here; 8550 tons of sulfuric acid at 62% concentration was produced in 2140, selling for $6.50 per ton.

Communications

     There's a telephone system within the town (though few private homes are connected). The national telegraph system connects the town to the rest of Canada, but high tariffs and security restrictions mean that most telegraphic traffic is official business.

     There are two 30 watt AM radio stations -- CFZQ broadcasts from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with farm reports, weather forecasts, and the usual dull, business-like Canadian programs. The other station, CFHA, broadcasts 24 hours a day, playing old (20th Century) music from tapes and records. The government has a radio station for military and emergency communications.

     The Hardisty Herald is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Three-quarters of the paper is taken up by industrial and commercial reports; there are some advertisements, government proclamations, and weather reports, and a small amount of general news. Here's the front page from 19 October 2140. 

     Many notable events -- horse races, prize fights, parades, etc. -- will produce programs of up to 48 pages, much of which will be advertising.

     There's a busy post office.