Nothing new about high fares to Canada.

For years ORD-YYZ was around $800 for a 55-minute flight, yuck! I had to do this run every 2-3 months, so I did it out of MKE for about half of that fare. Still expensive, but obviously better than ORD. Every so often you'll find bargains....but those are rare. USAir had a MKE-YYZ $221 RT via PGH a few years ago, but that came and went within a matter of a few months.

Wish I could offer a suggestion or at least more reason for optimism.