Canada, Quebec sign long-delayed sales tax deal

The Canadian government and Quebec formally signed a C$2.2 billion ($2.1 billion) tax deal on Friday, ending two decades of squabbling which had helped fan separatist sentiment in the largely French-speaking province. Quebec had pressed Ottawa for almost 20 years to compensate it for harmonising its sales tax with its federal equivalent.
Successive federal governments refused, arguing Quebec had not fully harmonised the tax. The governing Conservatives in Ottawa committed during the May 2 election campaign to strike a deal, and they set aside the money in their June 6 budget. Under the terms of the deal, Canada will pay C$733 million to Quebec on January 1, 2013, and C$1.467 billion on January 1, 2014.