Do you have a citation for that? What was the exact quote?

What I found:

>>> "We're not looking to become a member of the European Union," Carney said Sunday evening on the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival. He attended the festival shortly after giving a speech to kick off the two-day Canada Investment Summit, which begins Monday.

>>> "What we are looking — and will begin discussions for — [is] a unique alliance with the European Union. We share the same values, we have the same priorities and we have very complementary strengths."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-european-union-eu-me...

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bawolff an hour ago | parent [-]

Which is kind of my point. A unique alliance is not the same as becoming an associate member.

	▲	ginko an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Being the EU's first associate member is by definition unique.

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cromka 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

BBC https://www.bbc.com Carney eyes 'unique alliance' with EU as trade war with US intensifies

WSJ https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/canada-alliance-eu-carney-2... Mark Carney's Audacious Bid to Make Canada an 'Associate Member' of the EU

That's the coordination here. Which may have misfired, too:

https://www.ft.com/content/2e2e0c1e-51d6-49e2-9f4a-6ef793908...

	▲	frm88 29 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Not exactly misfired, the title is somewhat clickbaity, 5 diplomats pointed to several aspects of difficulties with Ceta - nobody really "rebuffed" anything. The article is also somewhat hostile to the EU in general, is that a common notion on the FT? Anyways here's an archived link https://archive.is/RtfFb
	▲	bawolff an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I agree that he has used the term "unique alliance", but he seems to dislike the term "associate member" and is denying it as it is playing poorly among some segments of canadian society (mostly right wing)