Cool, let me know when you join the 403 Scions group. I'm Karan on there.
Anyway, apparently, to avoid those charges, all you have to do is clear the customs yourself.
So when they attempt delivery, just refuse it and tell them you'll clear the customs yourself and tell them to hold it at their warehouse and they'll give you a little delivery sticker.
Then you call UPS and ask them to send you the commercial invoice for your package by email or fax or whatever (they'll need your tracking number for this) and it's usually sent by email or fax within minutes.
Then you go to the Canadian Border Services office near the airport (also near the UPS warehouse) with your delivery sticker from UPS AND the commercial invoice, and tell them you'd like to clear the customs yourself. They'll give you a B15 form and ask you to pay a little fee for clearing customs, and they'll stamp your B15 form.
Take the B15 form to the UPS warehouse (pretty close to the Border Services office) and they'll give you your package without any additional fee.
Someone in Calgary had about $70 in brokerage/customs fee from UPS and they used this method. The Canadian Border Services only charged him $9 for cleaning customs and he got his package without paying anything else.
