Bert, I have a US ticket as well, and have flown in the States. I didn't mean to insinuate that all flying there was easy, and all flying in Canada was difficult. Your point is well taken. However, there is a much larger Gen Av component to helicopter flying in the US than anywhere else in the world, and the regs are geared to that.
I stand by my statement that if you want to fly professionally in a place LIKE Canada with its weather and geographic extremes, then your training and licencing standards should reflect the seriousness of the task. The same would go for Alaska, the Northwest, or any other harsh environment or task.