Canada

Primary culture

English (British)

Capital province

Ottawa (991)

Government

Constitutional Republic

State religion

Protestant

Technology group

Western

Canadian ideas

Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.33.

Traditions:

+10% Trade efficiency

−15% Land attrition

Singing Lumberjacks

+10% Production efficiency

The Hudson Bay Company

+1 Merchant

Settling the Interior

+1 Colonist

The Maritimes

+1 Yearly navy tradition

The Quebec Act

+2 Tolerance of heretics

Legacy of the Empire

+15% Trade steering

The Forests of Canada

−10% Ship cost

Ambition:

+1 Yearly legitimacy

+0.3 Yearly republican tradition

For the region, see Canada (region).

Canada is a formable nation located in the Colonial Canada region of North America, with its capital traditionally located in Ottawa. In the timeframe of EUIV, its territories are controlled by France, Great Britain, and various First Nations tribes, including Cree and Ojibwe. Although Canada was confederated in 1867, a skilled player can form and govern Canada stretching from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans long before then.

Formation[edit | edit source]

Canada can be formed by any former colonial nation with its capital in ‘Colonial Canada’ colonial region.

id

Form Canadian Nation

The time has come to shake off the last remains of our colonial past. We must form a proper nation and solidify our claims to this region.

Potential requirements

is not playing with random New World.
Either:
- has not enacted a colonial nation formation decision before
- is Cascadia
- is Alaska
- is Quebec
is not an end-game tag.
is not a nomad nation.
is not the Holy Roman Empire or the Papal States
Either:
- is a colonial nation.
- is a former colonial nation.
- Capital is in the Colonial Canada region and is not in an american technology group.
owns a province in the Colonial Canada region.

If the country is AI-controlled then:

it must have at least 3 cities

Allow

Canada does not exist.
Administrative technology is at least 10.
is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
Capital is a cored province in the Colonial Canada region.
owns at least 10 cities in the Colonial Canada region.

Effects

The country:

if primary culture is in the French culture group:
- change primary culture to Québécois.
changes to Canada.
gains a permanent claim on every non-owned province of Colonial Canada region.
gains 25 prestige.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years:
- −0.05 Monthly autonomy change
- +1 National unrest

If the country:

is a member of the Holy Roman Empire and not an elector or the emperor
- then all its provinces are removed from the HRE.
is a duchy
- then it becomes a kingdom.
was not a former colonial nation then:
- it loses all subjects in Europe, Asia, and Africa
- it inherits all its colonial nations
- it will not be able to form any colonial nations^[1]
- all its provinces in Europe, Asia, and Africa are ceded to their former nation
does not have custom ideas
- then it gets the ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’ event.
has enacted the “Elective Monarchy” government reform
- then it enacts the government reform “Feudal Nobility”

Strategy[edit | edit source]

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Canada. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Forming Canada by releasing a colonial nation[edit | edit source]

Creating a Canadian nation stretching "from sea to shining sea" many years before 1867, requires playing as a colonial European power such as England, France, Portugal, or Castile, focus on colonizing above all else. Access to the Colonial Canada region may be gained most often through Iceland and the Azores leading, respectively, to Greenland and Bermuda.

Ideas[edit | edit source]

The first idea group acquired should of course be Exploration, followed by Expansion, though it can be wise to wait until reaching Diplomatic Technology Level 7 before investing any monarch points in ideas. The third idea group needs to be a military idea group. Plutocratic and Quantity Ideas both unlock useful policies that boost settler growth. This policy, along with the Colonial Settlement Act, should be implemented as soon as the requisite idea groups are completed. Nations focusing on trade will be benefited most by Plutocratic ideas; countries that want to expand militarily or have powerful rivals will likely be better off with Quantity.

Gameplay as the mother country[edit | edit source]

Complete every mission and take every event decision that grants the Colonial Enthusiasm modifier or otherwise helps colony growth. For example, with The Cossacks DLC, a player can boost Global Settler Increase by +10 every ten years by using the Grant New World Charter interaction with the Burgher Estate. Colonial Canada is usually a low priority for other nations' colonization efforts. Players should use this to their advantage and get the Pope to recognize their right to the region before anyone else has arrived. (This will result in a Catholic Canada, but it's worth it to discourage competitors from colonizing provinces Canada will want later on.) Countries with a parliament, like England, should use it to get an extra colonist as often as possible. Resolving parliamentary debates immediately will shorten the length of time a player must wait before the Charter Colonies debate option comes up again.

Colonize the entire Colonial Canada region, focusing on the coastlines first. Conquer any First Nations tribes in the region as soon as the fledgling colonial nation can successfully absorb them. With the incentive of an adjacent province, the colonial nation may declare a few of these colonial conquest wars on its own. It can be helpful to establish tiny colonial nations in adjoining regions like the United States. These will give a Catholic mother country a Treaty of Tordesillas claim on these areas to keep rivals out, but at the same time will leave plenty of open land for Canada to expand into once it's independent. To prevent giving these nations any land the future Canada might desire, use the subject interactions in the Subjects tab to grant provinces to the correct colonial nation. Note that a player may only grant provinces that are directly controlled, not provinces belonging to another colonial nation, so the single day when a colony is self-sustaining but not yet granted to its normal colonial nation is often the only possible day to grant it to the future Canada. Note also that it is not possible to grant provinces while at war, so time wars carefully!

During all this colonizing, do not neglect European expansion. A player needs to maintain a strong European power base so that the colonial nation’s liberty desire stays below 50% until the player is ready to release it. For the same reason, it’s best to keep tariffs as low as feasible. Granting provinces will also decrease liberty desire, as will investing in the colonial nation's development. A wise player will do a lot of both to give the future Canada the best starting position possible. If playing with the Mandate of Heaven DLC, don't be afraid to take a Golden Age as the European power; since Canada will be a new nation, it will be able to have a golden age of its own later on.

Releasing the colony[edit | edit source]

Once the entire Colonial Canada region is colonized (or more, if a player is intent on gifting provinces outside that colonial region) and the nation is ready to be released, a wise player will make sure that the newly independent Canada doesn't have to immediately compete against the colonizing powerhouse of the mother country. It is therefore best to send all the mother country’s colonists to the most remote, slow-growing, uncolonized land within reach (jungle provinces in Africa, for instance), or abandoning the Exploration and Expansion groups altogether and using the regained monarch power to further develop the colonial nation. If the newly released Canadian nation is likely to come into quick conflict with its mother country, it is possible to sabotage the European country before releasing the colonial nation. If the two are likely to be allies because of their shared cultural ties, however, it’s often best to leave the European power in as strong a military position as possible before releasing your colonial nation. If other colonizing nations have established colonies that Canada will want to absorb, it can be helpful to have the European mother country rival the owners of those colonial nations.

If the mother country has established small colonial nations near Canada, it's advisable to release these nations as well, just before releasing Canada (make sure not to play as them, though!). This allows Canada to have some neighbours to interact with, and possibly vassalize and annex.

Now it's time to release the colonial nation. Make sure to check the box to play as the released nation!

Gameplay as Canada[edit | edit source]

Once governing the newly independent Canadian nation, a player has a lot of important decisions to make.

The first is to get the right idea groups. The colonial nation should already have completed Expansion Ideas and Plutocratic Ideas, but Canada needs the two colonists from Exploration Ideas and all of the colonization-boosting policies to reach the Pacific before other nations do (or, at least, in time to keep their colonial nations in California and Alaska small). It is worth abandoning two of the uncompleted idea groups in order to access Exploration and Quantity Ideas immediately. Don't worry about the loss; these idea groups can be chosen again later if needed. Abandoning these idea groups should refund a small amount of monarch power that can then be spent on the new idea groups. It may be wise to get the first few ideas in these groups before forming Canada — a colonial nation's generic national ideas include one that reduces the cost of ideas; the Canadian national ideas do not. Instead, they grant an extra colonist, which will be needed, so don't delay forming Canada for too long.

Once Canada has formed, a wise player will change the country's religion to either Reformed or Protestant. As a Catholic nation, colonizing any colonial region that's already claimed by another Catholic power, including Canada's mother country, will damage Canada's relations with that country and reduce settler growth in that region. As a Protestant or Reformed nation — even if the majority of Canada's provinces are still Catholic — Canada faces neither penalty. (And if a Protestant Canada adds the Heretics Deported aspect of faith, her colonies will grow even faster.) The relations penalty for being a different religion than most of Europe is much more easily overcome than the penalty for repeatedly breaking the Treaty of Tordesillas.

For the moment, Canada's focus should be the same as it was for the mother nation: colonize, colonize, colonize. With luck, the nation's colonist may have already encroached into Louisiana or the United States before the nation was even released. Expand upon this advantage. Focus on coastlines; if other nations can't get an easy foothold into a region, they're likely to leave it alone. The northern coastal provinces of the United States are the first priority. Then make a beeline across the country toward the Pacific. Try to prevent the Europeans from colonizing California and Alaska if at all possible. If someone else gets there first, make sure they can't expand eastward through Arizona or Oregon. Taking missions to conquer native tribes can be very helpful in getting west quickly. Focus on completing missions and choosing event options that boost your colonies' growth, and make sure to core provinces once they reach 1000 inhabitants.

While colonizing, try to stay out of fights with European powers until Canada's technology is at least equal to theirs and Canada has a stalwart European ally who can keep most of a European enemy’s troops busy. Often, the mother nation is the best bet for such an ally. It can be useful to delay declaring rivals for a time to avoid being called into European wars before Canada is ready for them. Quantity Ideas are essential for Canada to defend her borders from European invasions and internal insurrections.

References[edit | edit source]

↑ the country flag no_colonial_nations prevents the formation of colonial nations, but they can still be acquired by annexing a country which has colonial nations

Country guides

Western technology group