I think it's important to remember that without this agreement, Canadian financial institutions would still have to comply with FATCA. Obligations for Canadian financial institutions would have been unilaterally and automatically imposed by the United States. This would have required banks to report information directly to the IRS and potentially deny basic banking services to clients. Furthermore, the banks and their clients would have been subjected to a 30% withholding tax. So, without the agreement in place—
On May 6th, 2014. See this statement in context.