what's really weird is that it was only a few decades before that the french and indian war was fought, in which the french relinquished quebec to the british

so in the american revolution you had french men and money aiding the british colonials... while the french colonials sat on their hands or aided the british

the reason why: the british were always worried about the french colonials revolting, and in the very same parliamentary session where they punished the colonials for the boston tea party, they gave the quebecois vast freedoms, and ohio

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Act

In the Thirteen Colonies, the Quebec Act had been passed in the same session of Parliament as a number of other acts designed as punishment for the Boston Tea Party and other protests, which the American Patriots collectively termed the "Intolerable" or "Coercive Acts." The provisions of the Quebec Act were seen by the colonists as a new model for British colonial administration, which would strip the colonies of their elected assemblies. It seemed to void the land claims of the colonies by granting most of the Ohio Country to the province of Quebec. The Americans also interpreted the Act as an "establishment" of Catholicism in the colony[4] The Americans had fought hard in the French and Indian War, and they now saw the provisions given to the former enemy as an affront.[5]