Sure it will work, you just need more hand pressure. This usually isn't an issue though, as people rarely need to run cantis/calipers with V-brake levers.
I had a 200 dollar road bike that was a tad too small, and I don't like drops much to begin with. I had a set of shimano sis pods and a flat bar sitting on the shelf. Spare parts, bike I don't like the feel of much anyway... simple choice.
It orginally had single pivot calipers on it that (IMO) are total crap. You couldn't stop a kids tricycle with them let alone a road bike carrying 86kg worth of me at 35-40kmh. I replaced them with a cheap set of dual calipers from the same manufacturer. They really didn't want to sell parts but I eventually got a set from one of their hybrid models. All was good, got them installed got the gears indexed and dumped the friction levers and the suicide brake levers. really thought those were left behind in the 70's.. but I guess they are still sold on low end models. Switched out the crap rubber spacers they call pads for Shimano 105s. The bike stopped ok.
The 'QR' if thats what they want to call it does nothing of the sort. The pads don't move a mm when its engaged or disengaged. What it does do however is make the cable travel further to engage the caliper - helping make up some of the difference between a 1:1 pull ratio and 2:1 pull ratio. I don't think it brings it to the optimum, but it surely helps.