Though Ruhlman is correct that "smoke has negligible preservative effects" and "smoke is not used to preserve foods the way drying and salting are", smoke is both a bactericide and a bacteriostat. It cannot be relied on, however, to preserve food, i.e., make the food last longer than it would were it not smoked (though, correctly stored, it usually seems to help), and certainly cannot be relied on to kill possible pathogens. That's where curing comes in. Regardless, I am not advocating here for no pink salt as it is important to both the color and flavor, and its presence does reduce the chance of C. botulinum outgrowth.
Perhaps I should not make this assumption (or should specify it) but Canadian bacon, like belly bacon, is meant to be cooked before consumption, i.e., cooked again, whether in a frying pan, on a sheetpan, whatever. Though C. bot spores are heat stabile, C. bot toxin - the thing that causes botulism - is heat labile.
Of course, as for all smoked foods destined to be stored - and especially for smoked, cured products, rapid chilling after smoking is the order of the day.
[Note to tom: Whatever you do, test the saltiness of the meat after it has cured, but before smoking, with the method I note upthread, i.e., trimming off a piece, cooking it...etc.]