Montreal, april 2027.
Times were tough. Unrest was widespread. The people demanded change, to no avail. Governments, both federal and provincial, had lost all control and credibility with the population. In Ottawa, the liberal party was in power but held a minority. It had to negotiate with other parties to govern but often rejected their proposals. Instead, it favored force and coercion to pass laws. The War Measures Act and curfews were in effect across the country. Public health still struggled to manage annual pandemics, and vaccines had little to no effect on controlling the disease. In Quebec City, the parliament was paralyzed by union strikes. The Liberal Party had lost the last elections, and the CAQ, in a minority position, failed to establish its parliamentary authority. The springtime fragrance was absent. A scent of fear permeated the city. Nothing beautiful loomed on the horizon.
The police force was not spared. Investigators served as fronts for criminals, and the criminals used them to fulfill their needs. Crime spread like the plague, and no one was safe from arrest. The justice system was ailing. Lawyers and judges were under scrutiny. Cronyism served the interests of scoundrels. Corruption had a seat at city hall. Cities were under investigation, and politicians kept themselves out of sight. It was shameful. Anti-fascists and conspiracy theorists were on warpaths. Pockets of resistance were sprouting in the city and elsewhere in the province. Chaos did not spare the beautiful province. The population lived in fear, disarmed and voiceless.
In April 2027, Montreal’s social fabric is under dystopian measures tightening their grip on the population. Mandatory facial recognition start to appear , scaning citizens’ movements, feeding data into a digital identity system that dictates access to jobs, services, and even public spaces. In some banks, anonymous cash transactions are banned, replaced by biometric-linked digital IDs, eroding privacy and fueling distrust. Protests erupt, but dissenters are quickly identified and silenced through AI-driven surveillance, casting a chilling shadow over the city.