I'm no pro either, but here are my thoughts.

Firstly I think the 2015 Model Trek 8.3 is perhaps the best value for money bike in their line up.

It appears from the Trek Spec sheets that it has the same fork as the 2015 Trek 8.4(and thus comes with hydraulic lock out, vs no lockout on the 8.2 fork) and the same crankset as both the 2015 Trek 8.5 & 8.4.

Also the two colour schemes available to it, are much, much better than the 2015 Trek 8.2 and you are already on top of the different braking options between the 8.2 & 8.3.

I don't know if the 2015 models are yet available in Canada, I'd ask your bike store about that, but in the mean time, go to Trek's site and choose say "Australia" as your country and check out the 2015 DS models.

At 250 pounds, unless you do some truly crazy riding, I doubt you will overly stress a 8.3DS too much.