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So far, that has led to some progress — little steps at a time, four provinces so far — but still a country divided.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver in July succeeded in bringing two new converts to the fold — Saskatchewan and New Brunswick — continuing the work of the late Jim Flaherty, who had made a Canada-wide securities watchdog among his top priorities when the Conservatives came to power in 2006. Mr. Flaherty’s initial signatories were Ontario and British Columbia, who came on board in 2012.

The Co-operative Capital Markets Regulator System, such as it is, will become a reality — a legal federal entity — in early 2015.

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Enshrined in the Constitution Act, but not really taken to heart.

Instead, political leaders of the day unwittingly put the country on a collision course as the federation and, with it, provincial commerce grew.

They could not have foreseen a Canada — just four provinces then — stretching from sea to sea to sea, nor a country now littered with trade barriers and other obstacles between its members, most recently highlighted by this week’s friction between the West and Ontario and Quebec, as the two provinces’ premiers presented new demands before they would even consider allowing a West-East energy pipeline project to traverse their territories. Canada is arguably less open for business between provincial borders than it is to trading partners outside the country.

It remains a Canadian conundrum. One that federal Industry Minister James Moore, like many of his predecessors, has been cajoling provincial and territorial leaders to solve amongst themselves, able only to offer any help they might need.