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Just realized - on photoprice.ca, you can sort by price:
Photography, Digital Camera, Lens Price Comparisons for Canada - photoprice.ca

That's a lot of computer intelligence working for you ... you're getting price comparison across all brands, with real prices after tax, customs and shipping available after one click. I wish they would sort based on final price, but for some reason they are sorting based on list price.

The only problem I have with that site is it has some holes - missing models and missing lenses for example.

Yeah I've used and checked it frequently. There are many stores not listed that I have found that have competitive prices and should be in the mix.

Thanks, Michael for that info. I have also used ACE Index: Canada Camera Stores, Mail Order Photo Equipment, Used Cameras
to find canadian stores with good used lenses, as I find myself more able to afford the old ones, and enjoying learning to use manual lenses. (I found my great 1964 50mm 1.4 at Canadian Photographic in Ontario, and Paul was great to deal with.
2nd point - isn't it strange that Canadian stores are charging over $1,000 for a 12-24, whereas B&H has it for less than $800. And that's with our $ doing well!

Well Canadian dealers usually have their stock ordered well ahead and paid for ahead of time, SO whoever bought stock when our dollar was below parity has to charge more, or try to.
I am looking at getting some manual lenses but only after I spring for a nice Katz Eye viewfinder screen. I am not a fan of the standard Pentax DSLR one in the K-5.
As for deals, I keep browsing Craigslist, buy and sells, classifieds etc for some little old lady looking to sell off some pile of old Pentax gear and hope she doesn't know what she's getting rid of. I've heard of people getting the A* 135mm Prime manual lense (retails for almost $1500+ used when you can find them) along with other lenses and gear for $200-$300!!

Yeah, Craigslist in Vancouver has quite a few posts, and I've bought some stuff from it - not in the category of the deal you described, but good.

Yes - there are a lot of great deals on used lenses out there - I've bought used from Vintage Visuals PENTAX ... good price & quality, very responsive

I also keep several Craigslist searches in my RSS feed on http://www.google.com/reader

Another resource I have found helpful was to contact the shops with used equipment that I found at the following site - got my 8-element Tak 50/1.4 through one of the shops listed.
Canada Used Cameras, Collectible Cameras, Used Photo Equipment Dealers, Canadian Stores

Yeah, and $750 vs $479 for the 17-70/4 SDM ...

Part of the issue is revenue generation is negotiatted with Pentax Japan 6 months to a year out and with our dollars historic lower value and the fact that it dropped last year down to 90 again would mean a higher expectation in canadian dollars (likely it is all done in yen) the fact that the market costs more to support due to it's smaller size and higher tax rates for corporations also has an effect. However I do believe the price should at least be showing signs of moving down. some product has other hasn't. that probably has to do with landed cost on the product waiting on sale. Sigma get's away with higher prices by having a 10 year warranty but even there the spread is huge

Not true, corporate taxes are higher in the US.

the dollar has been strong for many years now.

More likely by the fact that distributors expect us to expect paying more.

I spent 25 years in CE retail and believe me a good chunk of the reason is what i laid out. the dollar has been stronger for a while, but the drop it took back to 91 cents likely scared them into playing it safe. Pentax canada is not a distributor by the way they are a division of pentax. Reality is we by at best 10% of the volume the US does, we have to distribute over a large geographical area and support that area with Warranty service which comes out of local profits not from Japan. And though the tax rate may be lower there are other costs in Canada. I don't mind a small premium, but i agree it's too wide right now. Japans profit expectation of the Division also sets some of the levels. It's not just Pentax out of whack with the US either

Eddie1960 has a good point re the differences in the economies of scale between the US and Canada. Today's Vancouver Sun editorial makes same points. But the fact that it is being talked about indicates a certain level of frustration. Editorial: Why are prices higher here than in the U.S.?
And today, that 12-24 is $1,299, plus tax for a total of $1,455.99 at Kerrisdale Cameras, and at B&H, with tax, duty and shipping it is $806.64.

Arn you're right, the 12-24 price up here makes absolutely no sense. Pentax japan of course doesn't care if you buy it from the US they get their cut either way just a smaller one would be my guess, Aden is cheaper at 1069 + taxes but it is still close to $500 more than the US price. We need a Pentax Canada rep on the forum to try and explain these variances. For an UWA option the DA 14 is actually cheaper here it's 599 at Aden camera and 699 at BH photo
The DA15 is 709 at ADEN (a slower lens for more WTF) and BH sells it for 509 which makes sense in light of the DA 14 price they have. Problem is Pentax Canada is completely useless IMHO 90% of the time

I've only gone to the Pentax Canada website once, to download the K-5 1.03 update. But they didn't have it, so I downloaded from the US site. I don't know if that's normal for Pentax Canada, but my only experience.
I ended up buying a used 12-24 from the Marketplace; I was happy with the price, and I'm really happy with the lens.

I have had the DA14 since release so no tempation on the 12-24, I have the focal lengths covered with primes
i could be tempted into the sigma perhaps