I would submit that a canard does not have to always produce lift. The same argument that a tail "could" produce lift applies to a canard producing down force.
Use a stick pusher to prevent any nastiness.
The point is that theory is one thing. Practical observation shows that so far in the entire history of aviation no commercial airliner has or has had a lift producing tail.
Many of the free flight endurance models I designed and built as a kid had multiple lifting surfaces. They were all trimmed to fly at only one speed. The most successful ones only had 1 lifting surface.