COUNTDOWN CANADA (1970) – Here at Balladeer’s Blog I am amazed that this vintage Canadian Television work of speculative fiction hasn’t received renewed fame in 2026. Countdown Canada uses the approach of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast and the later television production Special Bulletin. Throw in other examples like James Burke’s After the Warming if you like.
Though this aired on Canadian television in 1970 the story is set in 1979. The current head of Canada’s government won election on a campaign of holding a referendum on Canada officially joining the United States, and its provinces each becoming new states in the union. All except for Quebec, which in this fictional 1979 achieved independence earlier in the decade.
The referendum to become part of the United States resulted in a victory for the “yeas” and Countdown Canada is set a few years later as all bureaucratic and constitutional red tape has been dealt with and the last day of an independent Canada has arrived. Continue reading
