Harper’s wooing of Quebec could do wonders for provincial rights; in some quarters,  better described as provincial accountability for their own jurisdictions and raising the monies to service them.

If Harper now hopes to satisfy Quebec, provincial officials suggest he might agree to the province’s long-standing contention that it should be able to opt out of national cost-shared programs and still get its share of federal booty with no strings attached. He might also agree to extend any limitations to federal-only programs.

Such measures would provoke concern in some quarters, especially among Liberals, that Harper is weakening the national fabric, ending the possibility of creating new coast-to-coast social programs with national standards. And it could hand Dion, who is intimately familiar with the file, an issue upon which to finally define his shaky leadership.

Still, some provincial officials suggest any backlash will be muted by the fact that Harper won’t be enshrining the new limitations in the Constitution. A federal law can be changed by future governments, administrative agreements eventually expire, policy statements can be ignored.

“It seems all esoteric to me,” says one provincial official. “Unless they’re talking about amending the Constitution and have the votes to do it, it seems like all sound and fury.”

I say, roll back the federal government!