Canada’s ‘associate’ status with EU will be closer to membership than anything done before, officials say

Canada’s planned “associate membership” in the European Union to deepen trade and defence relations is intended to build a partnership that comes closer to membership in the economic bloc than anything the EU has done before, EU officials say. They acknowledged the name describing Canada’s relationship with the EU is still being debated. Last week a number of EU member states including, reportedly, Germany, objected to including the term “associate member” in the planned communique for the summit. The Globe is not identifying the three EU officials who detailed plans for the Oct. 29-30 Canada-EU summit in Montreal at a…