Can't say I enjoyed this episode much. I actually thought the Lisa subplot was better than the A-plot, and that's not saying much.
1. I thought TPatP was a good episode. Any source on that claim? Besides, accoridng to the verdict, no one is to mention the incident ever again, under penalty of torture. Ergo, Armin Tamzarian is thus required to pretend to have always been Seymour Skinner and is thus pretending to have been the fetus responsible for costing Agnes her Olympic dreams, even though we all know it wasn't him.
The only real questions are whether the torture penalty could have been enforced in Vancouver if Tamzarian had blown his cover, and if his time spent curling would have counted as suitable torture.
2. Arguing over Simpsons canon is one thing, but one shouldn't take jokes too seriously. Many of them are completely made up, like how Springfield is bordered by Ohio, Nevada, Kentucky, and Maine.
Didn't occur to me during the episode, but now that you mention it I can see the similarities.