Thinking outside the box continent. I like it

As the parliament says

In order to apply for EU membership, a country has to be European and respect the EU’s democratic values

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20180126STO94113/enlargement-how-do-countries-join-the-eu

Since according to Article 49

The applicant country must […] be a European state;

https://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/0ae670d2-1ece-4994-b1e3-adda39e1c6de.0006.03/DOC_1

I would support stronger ties to Canada, but Canada is not exactly in Europe