I kind of made a point like this in the other thread - during Brexit it was a very hard No from the EU that they couldn’t negotiate on key points such as freedom of movement, and countries are either IN and have everything the EU comes with, or they’re out. Now, it seems, that Canada is being offered a favourable half-in arrangement simply because they’ve never before been involved. Seems pretty bizarre and arbitrary for the EU, but also totally standard for the EU because it’s bizarre and arbitrary.

The crucial distinction is which half is in which “half-in” agreement.

They are not offering Canada conditions that the UK would have wanted.

This potential deal for Canada comes with compromises which would obviously be unacceptable to the UK (e.g. no full voting rights).