You ought to be able to avoid a lot of the cost of getting it back to Canada by bringing it on the plane with you. That way it's personal luggage and unless you bring back a lot of stuff it would likely be largely tax free. You would have to pay to bring it on the plane but should be quite a bit less than the shipping cost. But you'll spend part of your vacation trying to find a box to pack it in. I've thought of doing this same thing myself.

Karl