The other thing that I find one has to look at when comparing Canada to the US is that Canada only has ten provinces with 3 "major" cities, and 10-12 "supporting" cities. How could you not operate with a hub in the "centre"

Compare Canada to California just a bit stretched out

As stated numerous times above, the increased use of smaller jets will help eliminate some of the problems but although it would be nice, I dont think Winnipeg could support flights to NY, LAX, BOS, MCO, DFW etc. That being said, one AC operated flight to the US would be nice!