But I believe it won't, because it's a system that works to perfection, for Quebec's francophone elite at least. It's their ultimate non-tariff barrier. This will not change because it's the way the French-speaking majority wants things to be. The ideology of both parties is grounded in ethnic and linguistic nationalism. Some might feel that this alone justifies divestiture.
Federalism is supposed to be a two-way street.
For Quebec it's a one-way street. Every gain for the province is a victory, regardless of whether it makes sense. Every gain for the federal government is a humiliating defeat, not just for the government of the day, but once and forever for the Quebec people. Quebec's public administrators recently sounded an alarm about the degree of improvisation that seems to characterize the Parti Quebecois government's approach to managing public business. The conference, which took place September 12-14, was attended by senior Quebec civil servants.