Carts and horses

Tom Careen of Placentia has another one of his brilllliant ideas:

Mr. Ploughman mentions a Quebec version of the boundary and suggests that, sooner rather than later, the border should be surveyed.

If this province were to unilaterally survey the border, would the document and physical data be acceptable in Quebec [City]? There certainly is a ‘Quebec version’ we have never tolerated. Would we accept a land survey done by Quebec? Do you think there can be any agreement as to where the longest boundary between any two Canadian provinces actually lies?

I fear Mr. Ploughman has put the cart before the horse. There is a boundary dispute between two provinces to be settled before the surveyors can set up their instruments.

Mr. Ploughman may, indeed, have mentioned a "Quebec version of the boundary". If so, what he failed to mention was that this "Quebec version" is entirely imaginary.

Maybe Mr. Careen doesn't accept the word of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Maybe he doesn't accept the word of the King in Council. Maybe he doesn't accept Term 2 of the Terms of Union. If those are the cases, then he is in the same boat as those in Quebec who also pretend that these laws don't exist, and that there is still a "boundary dispute between two provinces to be settled."

There isn't.

The letter-writer may as well ignore the Kepler's Laws or the Laws of Thermodynamics.

And while he's tossing out the legal Latin maxims, perhaps he should look up res judicata.