Dick,
The Canadian system has been in place since the mid-1990s, and has been very successful. There have been no "safety" issues.
There are limits as to what aircraft are included, a different "owner maintained" C.of A is issued, which limits the use of the aircraft to strictly private operations, and from memory, there is no reverse path back to a normal C.of A.
The bottom line is: It has been very successful.
There were some discussions here in Australia, but it was comprehensively knocked back by CAR 30 Maintenance Org. proprietors and the ALAEA, including the ALAEA members who comprise most of the AWIs. All on safety grounds, you understand, not self interest.
Cast you mind back to when you first started flying, in Australia, a private owner could do far more than the present Schedule 8 maintenance allows, and when a LAME could do an annual inspection/100 hourly under the iron gumtree --- no CAR 30 (now Part 145) approval required.
Tootle pip!!