Not to belabour a point.. I've seen many a good deal at both Island Outfitters & Westshore Sports, Anglers whatever they call that new store.
Diawa salt reels as cheap as anywhere in the US, hard to find disc.Quantums good price. Browning rods on sale at fair pricing, the Berkley-Fenwicks promo rods...
I frequent both stores, spend good bucks, mostly on the consumables. I either wait for the bigger ticket stuff, or, when there's a fair comparative price on (my new Fenwick IM7 9') I'll spend the cash.
I also shop around... and have to admit, C$199 delivered for a new Curado 300E... was irresistable... but prefer to do local when it's close enough in pricing.
A lot of it is the Canadian Distributors. The big mega-box stores can act as their own importer, but are forced to offer their own in-store warranty, as the distributor won't warrant externally-sourced products.
I used to be a wholesale rep for a Canadian warehouse sports-distributor for a US company... Foreign companies think of Canada as a cash-cow... and Canada is always their most profitable operation globally... That goes for all lines from groceries, candy, guns and underwear.