I have both the AmEx Gold card, WS World Elite card and TD Aeroplan Platinum card.

At the end of the day what you should be caring about more than anything else is point accrual and how Universally you can redeem those points for travel. In that category AmEx is the clear winner. The points you earn from your AmEx membership allows you to exchange them for a variety of travel programmes including Aeroplan (Star Alliance), Delta (SkyTeam) and British Airways (OneWorld). If that weren't enough you could also transfer your points to hotel partners such as Hilton or SPMarriott. If none of those work you can redeem the points for purchases or merchandise.

AmEx Gold specifically allows you to earn 2 points (which can be transferred 1 to 1 to Aeroplan, BA, etc.) per dollar spent on gas, groceries, drugstore, and travel with 1 point being earned everywhere else. That's unarguably the most generous earn rate of any travel credit card in Canada. It also has some benefits you may actually use (i.e. $5,000,000 travel medical insurance). The annual fee is also low $149 with first year free the last I checked.

In terms of card acceptance, AmEx is fairly widely accepted in Canada. Sure it won't work at some supermarkets (i.e. Loblaws). However, I've managed to use it at a variety in places in Canada from Sobeys for groceries in Ontario to Tim Horton's for coffee and Shell for gas. Is it as widely accepted as a Mastercard or Visa? No but the places that refuse to accept it are also very limited.

The trouble with the airline branded credit cards is that your earnings are credited to one program which may or may not align with your travel plans. For instance, last I checked, WS doesn't fly to Rome! Similarly, AC doesn't fly to New Zealand, and * partner awards on NZ can be quite limited. The free checked bag benefit is a gimmick IMHO. How often do you actually uses that benefit? Even I who clock in 50-70K miles every year rarely check a bag even though it's always free and I can often check up to 3 bags thanks to my status (see below). Why? Because I don't want to wait the 30-45 minutes to check the bag in and wait for the bag to arrive in the carousel, don't want to risk the airline losing my bag and want the flexibility to switch flights in the event of IRROPs (if you have all your bags with you, you have that flexibility).

Any discussion about free checked bags or lounge access is irrelevant, unless you travel a lot and can count on taking advantage of that benefit. In which case, I'd advise you instead look at accruing status with an airline (i.e. earning Gold on United which gives you lounge access, free checked bags, priority everything when flying United, Air Canada, Lufthansa and the other * partner airlines).

Hope that provides some insight.

Safe Travels,

James