For better or for worse, they believed that the survival of French Canada was linked to the creation of a federal system, that as long as Canada would continue to exist that French Canada would also continue to survive. It has been said that federalism, if applied properly, is incompatible with dictatorship as dictatorship implies the absolute control of power by one somewhere while federalism diffuses power between various units. Federalism also denies the application of simple majority rule since the purpose of federations is to recognise that the rights of small units have to be acknowledged and respected. It is a system particularly suited for large and diverse countries where cultural, religious and linguistic differences are pronounced. It makes of peoples, who might otherwise be strangers, if not enemies, partners in development and allows them to co-exist in peace while learning from one another.
Supremacy rests in the Constitution.
The legislation of the provincial government can only apply to the people of their province. Provincial law does not have the power of extraterritoriality. When such overlapping exists, there is a need to determine, in the Constitution, which of the two levels of legislation shall prevail if the laws are found in contradiction. Federal constitutions must be, at least, partly written so that the allocation of fields of jurisdiction is made clear and guaranteed. Such constitutions are also said to be rigid since, for the most part, it would require more than a simple majority of the legislatures to change it.