Duchess Driver/Pilot DAR
My comment about flying 'illegally' in IMC (as I put it) referred to flying behind a full panel of certified avionics in a strongly built kitplane such as a Vans (which is at present illegal in the UK, legal in the US, but I don't know about Canada). I wasn't for a moment thinking about some flimsy fibreglass contraption with a cheap Chinese 'glass panel'. Nor was I advocating flying in IMC without an IR - proven time and again to be suicide.
I don't know if this changes your views about my post, but you are certainly right that I should have been more cautious, lest it be misinterpreted by a novice pilot, so thank you. A culture of rule-breaking is something to be avoided. However, I stand by the idea that flying behind a new certified panel fit in a decent kitplane is no more dangerous than in many Group A aircraft - anyone who has seen an ageing Cherokee flying in to the unknown with a panel full of U/S stickers, creaky gyro instruments and lying engine gauges will know what I'm talking about.
As for the argument against flight in IMC in singles, Canadian weather is doubtless more volatile and extreme at times than in the UK. IFR in singles is routine here, although it is true that a twin with deicing kit is no bad thing anywhere. If icing or turbulence is kept in mind and avoided, then it would seem to me that for flying in the UK the safety gap between twins and singles is not too much more significant than in VMC, although obviously an engine failure in a single in IMC is a scary prospect.