The issue of 'sovereignty' is complex because the word means different things in English and French. In English, soveriegn is absolute independence. In French, it can be much more whishy-washy and less clear cut.

As for transfers, that too is very complex since the Federal government collects the vast majority of all taxes in the country and then gives the money back to the provinces (called 'block grants') according to variously negotiated funding formulas based on population and need (since the Provinces themselves pay for just about all government services like police, fire departments, roads, public works, education and healthcare insurance).

Thus it is possible for the citizens of a Province to remit some $10 billion in taxes to Ottawa and that Province can receive back $12 billion in block grants. This is exactly the case with 8 of 10 Provinces. Alberta and Ontario are reversed. Ontario remits some $45 billion to Ottawa and gets back less than $35 billion. The difference is used to subsidise Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces. In real numbers or per capita, Quebec is the number one welfare case province in Canada sucking up huge subsidies.

If cross-subsidies were eliminated, Quebec would lose about $10 billion a year directly in transfer payments and would probably lose another $10 billion a year in various national agreements that overwhelmingly favour Quebec (for example, Quebec controls some 85% of the Canadian quota for dairy products - this is worth some $8 billion a year. Also over 50% of all Federal government contracts and Canadian defense spending programs go to Quebec - some data suggests this figure is actually 75-85%).

Either way, total independence for Quebec would knock about 10% off of Quebec's GDP immediately (and add a corresponding 10% boost to the 'rest of Canada') as a result of lost government subsidies.

It is important to note when reviewing any Quebec policy proposals to note that all Quebec plans for "sovereignty" are predicated upon maintaining the present levels of subsidy. This is absurd, but no Quebec politician has the guts to admit otherwise to Quebecers since Quebec likes to pretend that they pay a net subsidy to support the rest of Canada (which is hiliariously funny).

Also, most Quebec proposals also call for maintaining the usage of Canadian passports and Canadian currency (and Canadian taxpayer subsidies) - and also 2/3 of the land area of Quebec itself (which officially belongs to the Federal government!).

In other words, the Quebec threat of separation/independence is laughably weak. They want their cake and they want to eat it too - and they want Canadian taxpayers to pay for it. And the very idea of it is very, very popular in Quebec (go figure). Quebec on its own is not economically viable. Only Ontario, and to some extents, Alberta have the economic ability to actually be independent States.