This item of news demonstrates perfectly why the EU is an obsolete moribund organisation. A decent trade deal with a country like Canada, whilst not absolutely necessary, would be very handy. A single nation should be able to conclude such an agreement fairly swiftly. Negotiations for this deal have been lumbering along for seven years; every time a new word or two appears in the text the whole thing has to be trundled through the full panoply of EU machinery (which, remember, uproots itself for four days each month, at a cost of £150m pa, from Brussels to Strasbourg to satisfy French vanity). Then, if the new words are not acceptable to each of the 28 members, back go the negotiators to try again. With ten or so fairly similar economies it was difficult enough but just about manageable; with 28 disparate nations such negotiations are a near impossibility (as failed attempts to conclude this and the TTIP testify).
The EU announced that it was “not capable” of concluding this deal. The refusal of 3 million or so people to accept it has prevented its implementation for 500 million others. This is just one of the reasons why Brexit is necessary. The EU is past its sell-by date (if it was ever within it). It is an increasing nonentity as the rest of the world presses on with doing things unencumbered by the antics of centralising, regulating politicians. The sooner we’re completely out the better because all the time we remain, the ability to conclude deals like this purely in the interests of the UK is unavailable.