A couple of years ago Canadian artists used to get mentioned (and praised) quite often on another message board that I visited. Besides the ones you mentioned, there were lots of others as well:

-Moist (I love this band)
-The Tea Party (This is some VERY interesting stuff! Extremely unique.)
-Skydiggers
-Headpins/Darby Mills
-Triumph
-Toronto
-Coney Hatch
-Glass Tiger
-Boulevard
-Brighton Rock
-Santers
-Honeymoon Suite
-Haywire
-Aldo Nova
-Sebastian Bach
-Streetheart
-Pretty Rough (this is one that I brought up a few times)
-The Kings
-Hanover Fist (aka Hanover)

The obvious ones...
-Harem Scarem
-Loverboy
-Bryan Adams
-Shania Twain (!)
-Alanah Myles
-Alanis Morrissette (whom I absolutely LOATHE!)
-Barenaked Ladies

From the "Old School"...
-Prism (phenomenal, IMO, and an absolute necessity for any fan of AOR in the vein of Journey, Foreigner, Styx, Loverboy, etc.)
-Trooper
-April Wine
-Max Webster (Kim Mitchell's band before he went solo)

There were others (especially newer ones), but that' s all that's coming to mind right now. I have actually worked fairly hard at introducing some of my internet friends to Canadian bands. It's weird to me that our neighbors south of the border especially don't seem to be more familiar with some of the bands that are huge up here (like, the Tragically Hip, for example).

Btw, it's true what you've heard about Neil Peart's losses. He did, indeed, lose both his wife and daughter within a few months of each other. From what I understand, the band kind of got put on hold for a while. I believe that I've heard he's ready to make a comeback now, though. In fact, I believe I've read that he's engaged to be married. He certainly deserves some joy in his life, anyways.

Take care.
Don