Agree completely on the federalization, but disagree on actually joining the EU.

Frankly, we're not ready for it. Our industries and regulations have far more in common with the US than the EU, and we'll need a serious transition period to match their standards. While I do think in the long term such standards are a good thing, it would be economically damaging in the severe in the short term.

That said, I think the best would be to slowly match their regulations with the hope of joining the EU, without actually committing to it in the short term, but to close our relations with them in the meantime and leave the option open if it becomes more advantageous later on. Matching regulations with a fair and reliable trading partner always helps, not to mention that their regulations are far healthier and environmentally friendly.

Absolutely, agreed. The issue here is that Canada may not qualify, as we're North American rather than European. (While it's true that we're right next to Greenland and the French territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, neither territory is part of the EU but rather both are considers "overseas" territories of EU members, so being next to them doesn't help extend the definition of "European".)

Also see https://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement/briefings/23a2_en.htm - Morocco is just below Spain and Portugal as you can see on this map, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco#/media/File:Morocco_(orthographic_projection,_WS_claimed).svg - but it was rejected membership in the European Communities. Sadly, based on geographical criteria alone, the case for Canada being "European" is much weaker than Morocco or Turkey.

Back in the day, I had high hopes that the CPTPP would evolve into something similar to the EU with its own version of Schengen.