I'm one of those Canadian guys you mentioned and have both a centerpin and a baitcaster. The centerpin requires a bit more room for casting but is far more fun to fight a fish on. The baitcaster is an armsaver if you like to run your float greedy distances down-river. The centerpins my favorite, it's just like using a big flyrod. The plus side of a baitcaster is, if you fish hardware like spoons or plugs the gears lessen the winding.
Does it really matter as long as your fish'n?