As you correctly point out, it's probable that Canada's associate membership will result in an EEA-lite relationship with the European Union. I can see the engagement being sectorial.

It's going to be very hard for the Canadian economy to escape Washington's regulatory power (Quebec's French language consumer regulation being actively disputed by the US in trade negotiations is illustrative of this), but an associate membership will set up pathways of closer integration with the EU than having a simple bilateral relationship. It will probably also give Canada more leverage in future talks with the United States (and Mexico).

Obviously, none of this would have happened had Trump not pursued maximalist trade war aims coupled with an inflammatory rhetoric about Canada's sovereignty. Canada ending up closer to the EU as a result of this ("integrated" within the EU!) is no doubt among the worst American soft power debacles of the postwar era