That's odd. I had to pay 12.5% GST+PST on my phone that I bought in the USA and was sent to BC...
A big issue is the time investment into Canadian warranty claims. It's a 3-4 week process at best. I shot about a week just on phone calls getting everything rolling. In addition, I cut my landline years ago which in my case means buying a temporary AWS device or going back to CDMA on pre-paid which adds to the cost of getting repaired... Thanks for detailing your Canadian claim cycle. Best of luck in the home stretch!