The Bloc did not run candidates outside of Quebec. Since the American Revolution, Canada has sought to preserve its separate identity, and to protect its unity and independence, against Yankee encroachment. Canada's fatal mistake was to enter a free-trade zone with a nation nine times as populous and an economy 10 times its size. Free trade leads to open borders. People and goods move back and forth ever more freely until the border vanishes, a single currency is agreed to, the populations co-mingle and the merger of the two economies evolves into a merger of the two countries.
Peaceful commerce is a powerful cement in binding citizens together.
Ever more dependent on trade with America, Canadians are less and less dependent on trade with one another. For Canada, foreign trade is a huge share of Gross National Product, and three-fourths of its trade is with us. History will say that Canada sacrificed its birthright on the altar of trade. Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have more in common with Montana and Minnesota than Quebec. And the Maritime provinces have more in common with New England than Yukon.