This article originally appeared in the Financial Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Philip Cross, March 19, 2026
I recently attended a screening by the Montreal Economic Institute of the film “L’Illusion tranquille” — or “The Quiet Illusion,” word-play on the “Quiet Revolution,” the usual term for the transformation of Quebec’s governance in the 1960s. What’s the illusion? Though Quebec views itself as not just distinct but also a model for others to emulate, the reality is its average income lags that of most other states and provinces. Some model!
A particularly striking statistic cited in the documentary is Quebec’s ranking near the bottom of GDP per capita among the 60 states and provinces of North America. This is reflected in UQAM Professor Pierre Fortin’s calculation that GDP per capita in neighbouring New York state — $87,000 in 2018 — was almost twice as high as Quebec’s $48,000. (Both numbers are in U.S. dollars at “purchasing power parity.”)
When the film’s audience was asked for its post-screening reaction, one comment was that it seemed overly pessimistic. On the contrary, the documentary arguably does not capture the speed at which the U.S. has been pulling away from Canada over the past couple of years in the race to develop and deploy innovative new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
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Philip Cross is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
