Spring is a wonderful time to visit Canada, I would suggest late April or anytime in May as being pleasant in Southern Ontario (Toronto area) as well as on the West coast.

Renting a car in Toronto should be no problem, and most likely cheaper with the Canadian $$. If you want to travel to the Rockies from Toronto, I would recommend flying. The train would take you a couple of days as would driving.

There is so much to see in both locales, so you may want to have some idea of how much time you want to spend in each area; and with regards to the Mountains, whether you want to go to Alberta, and visit Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise area (Jasper?) and then perhaps drive over the Mountains into Vancouver, and spend some time there and in Victoria on Vancouver Island.

I wouldn't recommend going with any kind of tour. You'll get so much good advice around places to go, stay, eat, visit from the Travelzine, that the cost of an organized tour just wouldn't be worth it.

Hoping we'll be able to (Finally) get to a Toronto GTG to meet you and other ziners.

John Wiernikowski Hamilton, Ontario CANADA