Aragorn I have noticed the price difference between the Canada and the US and obviously you are right about supply and demand. Wish I could send you a cheap one, if we both had realistic firearm laws I probably could.
I can't see the SKS ever as a collectors item as it really did not have a dramatic life, a very few years after its introduction it was overshadowed by the AK 47 so was sort of the "ugly stepdaughter". They really do work well and cheap to purchase/shoot so quite popular here in Canada. We are about to put a scope on one to see just how well we can get it to shoot at longer distances so that will be interesting. Bought the mount just need to decided what scope to use as I really don't want to spend a fortune.