The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap/Canada
Part of the Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap Project.
Eastern Canada
Hmm... I wonder how Toronto would fare. It is a huge (for Canada) city, but... I don't think it has much military, or political importance (on a international stage). It has tons of economic importance, but I don't imagine that be as important for the initial strikes.
Perchance, Toronto doesn't get hit. That would become then a mecca for survivors from both Canada (Ottawa, and our military towns/cities (especially the big ones in Quebec) and the Northern States.
With its access to the Great Lakes and then St. Lawrence (could hit up any surviving US cities along the way) and then Atlantic Ocean and major airports it could become a major Trade city from the get-go. Most likely mainly with ships and not aircraft.
To add to that, it is also incredibly multicultural we could see race riots break out in places like Chinatown as the populace finds out who dropped the bombs.
But lets be real, if someone decided to drop the bombs, Toronto is the New York of Canada. If you really want to fuck your hated enemy up, are you going to use just enough TNT to blow his house up but leave his hat collection in the garage alright? Yea I thought so.
Alberta
Calgary is globally notable for one reason only. It has a large number of corporate headquarters regarding the oil fields projects. A strike to downtown could decapitate a number of Canadian oil producers. On the other hand, Edmonton is the provincial capital (legislature, &c) and also has a large number of corporations located there. It it decently close to an army base (which might attract some missiles).
Were Edmonton or Calgary hit with a nuclear explosion, damage would not be as great as most other cities. Fallout would be blown away from strong winds which blow across the prairies, and probably sucked into the jetstream that blows across North America. Both cities are extremely spread out, with a relatively small downtown for both cities. Residential areas are almost exclusively low-density, and the downtown area is almost exclusively commercial as well. Edmonton has a large military garrison north of it, as well as an air force base and army base 300km northeast of it. Alberta would definitely be a target during any major war, since it has the worlds second most oil reserves, beaten only by Saudi Arabia. Any survivors would probably flee southwards, or head north to homestead, trying to flee the chaos and violence that would ensue from local anarchy. Northern Alberta would be filled with roughnecks (oil workers; due to Alberta's vast oil wealth, it brings a LOT of high paying, physical jobs, especially in the relatively isolated northern Alberta. This attracts people who need/desire lots of money, and who will endure bad living conditions and hard work to get so.) Most likely, these people will become bandits or highwaymen, due to their brutish nature and lack of intelligence. One could even liken these people as barbarians of sorts, with a Mad Max-esque feel about them. With limited supplies up north for oil workers, raids and incursions on Edmonton and its surrounding farming communities would probably occur.
Politically, Albertans are predominantly fiscally conservative and, unlike some stereotypes, socially moderate. For those who don't know Albertans, think of a stereotypical Texan without the patriotic hubris or racial antagonism. Civilization would probably survive around the cities, but would probably devolve into a decentralized style of government if there was no central control from Eastern Canada remaining (highly probable). Edmonton would probably remain the capital, and Calgary and the smaller cities (Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, etc.) would join with them as well. Alberta is extremely resource rich, with vast reserves of oil (both oil sands and the more traditional oil derricks), large amounts of Natural Gas, large amounts of coal, high-quality farming land, and large supplies of water in Northern Alberta (southern Alberta has drought problems occasionally). With the Rocky Mountains to the west, and thousands of miles of plains to the south and east, Alberta would be pretty isolated from world events.
Terrain
Northern Alberta is heavily wooded, with wildlife mainly consisting of deer, rabbits, foxes, and the occasional black bear. The soil is extremely rich, and is mainly used to grow grain crops, such as wheat, canola, or rye. There is also a large cattle industry. Temperatures range from a 20-30 degrees Celsius during the summer, and anywhere from 0 to -40 degrees Celsius during the winter. Blizzards occur at least once a month during the winter, with winds howling up to 60 kilometers per hour, and factoring in windchill, can kill an exposed person within minutes. The further north you go, the colder it gets during the winter.
Southern Alberta is largely plains, with similar wildlife to northern alberta, sans bears. Crops grown are the same as northern Alberta, but the soil is poorer, but is great for grazing animals such as cows, bison, and even caribou. Southern Alberta is one of the most productive cattle markets on earth. Temperatures are just as extreme in the south as the north, but usually more windy.
Saskatchewan
I'm not a local of Saskatchewan, so perhaps if someone else would like to add to this section, please do so.
Saskatchewan is largely the same as Alberta, but without the large urban centres. It has very little political or economic power, however it produces large amounts of food and has been coined "the breadbasket of the world." Perhaps, if the bomb droppers were totally sadistic, they would drop bombs on the grain fields in order to cut the supply of grain and oilseeds to Canada, the United States, and other locations. Saskatchewan is much like the prairie states in the US, but is politically moderate.
British Columbia
I'm not a local of BC, so if you are please add and fix this part of the article.
Vancouver would probably be the main target of a nuclear weapon attack in Canada. It is Canada's only major Pacific seaport, and is one of the most commercially advanced cities on the Pacific rim. It is a high-density city, however, and a nuclear weapon would cause a lot of damage. Vancouver is similar to Seattle, and were both to survive the apocalypse, they would probably find themselves in a mutual protection pact of sorts. British Columbia is very hilly, and most of its population is situated on the coast. Northern British Columbia is heavily forested, and has very few people living throughout it. There is enough farmland around Vancouver to be self-sustainable, and has the nearby Pacific ocean as well, which is a highly fished area.
Newfoundland
No real strategic targets of much worth, save for the offshore oil rigs on the Grand Banks. Low population density would probably mean that any attack would only take out >10 000 people. Only real military target would be the airbase at CFB Goose Bay, and even that is small and barely worth a bomb. For survivors, cultural tradition would be extremely helpful. There's a long history of fishing as well as self-sufficiency, and this is ingrained in the local mindset. Anybody coming from the mainland would likely have trouble adapting to the climate, which is sub-optimal for farming, as the growing season is only roughly 3 months long.
Some of the lowest population densities in the world, combined with a large lack of strategic value (lack of industry, large military installations) make much of northern Canada a poor choice for nukes. Seats of governance, such as the capitol cities of each territory, could be potential targets. But the strategic value in bombing a town with a population that could fit into a large apartment building, combined with a lack of any real internationally influential seat of power, means most of northern Canada would be spared the burden of direct attack. On the other hand, if a bomb were to land anywhere in northern Canada, Yellowknife would be it. The military Joint Task Force Northern headquarters is located here, inside one of the largest cities around. It should also be noted that there are several smaller military outpost spread out all over the north, mostly as a way of reinforcing sovereignty. And even though Canada claims it has no nukes, we all know you dont send a bunch of soldiers to guard snow and ice (in a country with more access to A-bomb material than any other, it should be noted) if there isn't a ballistic missile somewhere nearby. Think about that.
Considering this area is a population desert anyway, and most people who would elect to live in such remote and harsh places tend to be bit of the survivalist type by nature, life would continue much as normal, with a more survivalist edge to it. No doubt the local populations would band together into more tightly knit communities, wary of outsiders fleeing north. Attempts to replace any reliance on outside sources with internal, reliable ones would no doubt be made and compared to many places, with easily available fresh water, large amounts of wildlife, and vast swathes of untapped resources few places could be better equipped to survive the apocalypse in grand fashion.
Two things put a damper on the hopefuls that managed to survive here: Fallout, and Nuclear Winter. Fallout is a bit of a stretch, but it could ruin all that fresh water and has ample opportunity to mutate/kill all the wildlife. Glacial Ice could become one of the only sources of uncontaminated water (and again in this respect, the North has vastly more in supply then many other places) with dangerous, hostile runs through mutated forest and savage wildlife avoiding roving gangs of hostile "southerners" to harvest enough of a supply to survive for another year before winter returns.
And the second thing winter, is an open/close case. While people living up north are well equipped to deal with the cold, if the winter starts and doesn't end, how long do you think your gonna hang around in a frozen wasteland before you make a break for the south and the irradiated beaches of some Mexican resort? Uh huh, I thought so.
Ultimately if your gonna include this in your campaign, the built in hook would be the run south, away from an inevitable icy death. If the world hasn't been turned into a scoop of icecream, then you would be running north, to one of the last, vast, mostly uncontaminated pieces of land around.