"Highly Secret": Abandon Ottawa to the Yanks!

Further to this post,

Really unthickening the Canada/US border
...
1) First Canada, from Blessed Buster Brown:


...
Three general plans were conceived by NDHQ for the Director to work on:

* Defence Scheme No. 1, (DS No. 1), defence against a possible attack from the USA, judged the most important...

some relevant information in a message from a friend:

A gem at the Archives: (RG 24, volume 2925, file HQS 3496) relating to Defence Scheme No.1.

Alas the actual plan was not there, just a lot of 1922 dated letters from Military Districts acknowledging its receipt and an equal number ten years later confirming its destruction (all labelled "Highly Secret"). There were quite a few maps though, i.e. the disposition of regular and National Guard divisions in the USA, notes about how many troops could be mobilized in places like Maine, and, most interestingly, comments relating to likely USA objectives and the threat in different sectors.

For example, in Alberta it was noted that much of the population around Lethbridge came from the USA and their loyalty could not be taken for granted. The 3rd Division sector (covering southern Ontatio and Quebec) was happy to write off Windsor and London, accepted that the loss of Toronto and Hamilton would have grave economic effects, but deemed the defence of Kingston, Montreal and Quebec essential. It also had this gem about our fair city:

OTTAWA, the capital of Canada, lies behind this sector [essentially the Windsor/Quebec corridor]. As, however, we do not possess a highly centralized form of government the capture of our capital is of no military or economic importance. In the minds of politicians and civilians, however, the importance of OTTAWA may be greatly exaggerated and this should not be overlooked, as efforts may be made to concentrate forces for its defence, which from a military point of view might be more usefully employed elsewhere.

Update: Some fun comments at Milnet.ca.