Well, I started calling local electricians who surely know local code and the practical aspects of a transfer switch.
I have only reached one of the local electricians, and he wants to put in the type of switch that requires pre-selecting circuits. I do not want to do that. I want to transfer the entry, in full. He thinks $300 is expensive for the box with xx circuits... I told him the box I was looking at was $1,200, so that he would know that I understood that... yep, moving 200 amps is moving 200 amps... big stuff.
He did not say I was an asshole lunatic, but he wanted to. The only reason he did not is this a small town and I was referred by a mutual friend. I had looked around hydroquebec.com and did find the pages about don't stand in a bucket of water with your finger in a socket. This is about as advanced as it gets here. I did refer Mr. Electrician to the Saskatchewan document which contains a clear schematic for a safe whole-system transfer. His reply: we are in Quebec!
You got that right. The backwaters of Quebec.
He said that Hydro Quebec (after people did all kinds of stupid stuff with generators in 1998, The Ice Storm) wants people to submit plans for their generator hook-up, for their approval. He says the electricians do not do that. They just do a safe installation, but he has never heard of a whole-box transfer and is not interested in learning and is not interested in having a peon non-electrician know anything he does not know.
Leaving Quebec, via Internet or motor vehicle, you learn a lot about "other places". Quebec is infamously xenophobic, and I hate experiences like talking to this electrician... so I bought a stove plug and some heavy cable. Frig them all!!!