I suggest that you obtain some of the books on this web page from the Philatelic Bibliophile: http://pbbooks.com/canada.htm. Among the listings are these:
• Postage Stamps and Postal History of Canada by Winthrop S. Boggs
• Stamps of British North America by Fred Jarrett
• The Small Queens of Canada by John Hillson
• Canada's Small Queen Era, Postal Usage during the Small Queen Era 1870 - 1897 by George B. Arfken
I was visiting a stamp shop in Prince George, BC (back when there actually were stamp shops there -- two of them!). The owner was examining a Large Queen to see, as he hoped beyond hope, if it was a very valuable variety printed on laid paper. He dropped it in a watermark tray, squirted some lighter fluid on it, studied the stamp for moment, and said, "S***!". He picked the stamp up with his tongs, flicked his lighter, and a flash, almost literally, incinerated it. True story.
That's right! Gary Gagen, although I'm not sure if I've spelled his surname correctly. Last I knew, he was selling baseball cards in Toronto.
I'm in Vancouver, now. My wife and I retired here going on 10 years ago. I was in philatelic heaven, at first: There were four stamp shops within walking distance of my apartment, but now there is just one (and, unfortunately, the owner and I get along like oil and water). I was overjoyed to learn that the BC Philatelic Society met weekly in a downtown building just a 12-minute walk from my apartment, but three or four years after I joined we were booted out of the room we were using and now meet in a church in the suburb of Burnaby. Now I have to spend nearly an hour to get there. But I'm not really complaining: Most collectors probably have no stamp shops at all to go to, much less clubs.