Friday 12 July 2002
The future according to Avis
Betcha didn’t know that Avis, the car rental agency, has a big department devoted to predicting future geopolitical scenarios. According to this startling map from their web site, the Canada of 2012 will be quite a different place, wracked by climate change and international and interregional tension.
First, and most obvious: the entire lower half of British Columbia will fall into the Pacific along with California (and Oregon and Washington). Also, much of the Great Lakes dry up.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t nearly enough to satisfy skyrocketing US demands for oil in the US, and Alaska annexes part of Yukon, who in turn take over the old Northwest Territories, who in turn take over Nunavut.
A new Quebec referendum on separation finally results in a “Yes” vote. Frantic negotiations result in a new partnership, with Quebec remaining within Confederation, as long as it can have all of Eastern Ontario, inexplicably including Ottawa and Toronto. They want Mississauga too, but nonagenarian mayor Hazel McCallion scares them off.
Rising sea levels will claim Prince Edward Island, whose residents will move to Cape Breton and claim it as their own. In retaliation, Nova Scotia cuts itself off from the mainland by means of the new Fundy Canal.
A chilling glimpse into a future that might just happen…
On second thought, a more plausible explanation is that Earth is stuck by an asteroid, causing the the entire country to be jettisoned into space.