I got several letters from the "Domain Registry of Canada" and the unsolicited offers, coupled with the incredibly high price of the offers, coupled with the wording used (that sounded like I HAD to deal with them, and fast) made me conclude that it was a clumsy scam.

I'm shocked to discover they supposedly have some kind of legitimity...

The best scams usually are--BBC television licensing comes to mind.

Getting a .ca in Canada is very easy and pain free (I buy them all the time). This post is inaccurate, at best. There is no bureaucracy involved in the process, unless you consider receiving an email to legitimize your registration a bureaucratic process. In fact, it's not different from any other registration method where you have to verify who you are, surprisingly, via email.

And the "Domain Registry of Canada" letters are a scam; it's painfully obvious that they are. BTW, the emails you get from the lawyers of dead generals in Africa are also a scam.