In 1967, Montreal was the capital of Canada. Not in name, but in most everything else.
People from all over the globe converged on Montreal for what was probably the greatest world's fair, Expo 67. The business community, with its precious head offices, located in Montreal. It spoke two languages so the city was ideally suited to serve business and culture in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
In addition to language, that situation arose because the Canadian highway and railway systems ended in Montreal. The city had the first major airport in Canada for flights from Europe making it a natural entrepôt. The Port of Montreal did big business, located between the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic.
In addition, capital flowed from, as it was called then, St. James Street, universities grew in two languages, labour was plentiful, and a country of resources and a world of traders stood at its door. Montreal could speak English to North America and French to Europe.
Then Montreal, and Quebec, gave it all away.
Restrictive language policies made Montreal look inward. It went from being the major centre of Canada to the major centre of Quebec. Head offices fled to Toronto in the face of separatism so the delicate factors of production that so favoured Montreal disappeared. Why do business in Quebec in French, companies concluded, when you could conduct affairs in English in Toronto to serve the bulk of North America? Language policy divided Quebec from its position of trade and wealth.
Now former Parti Québécois premier Jacques Parizeau is promoting his book on sovereignty and dragging out all the old saws about independence; for example he argues a national securities regulator would undermine Montreal's economic position. Oddly, it was people such as Parizeau who did that already.
Quebec has an opportunity to prosper if Canada signs a free-trade deal with the European Union. Montreal could become the entrepôt again between two continents. Or it could answer the siren call of nationalism, looking inward. It's up to Quebecers to decide.