You can get permits to bring pistols into Canada as well, but generally only for sanctioned/approved sporting events (IPSC) and only with a written invitation from the organization along with all the required permits/paperwork.You can actually get a permit to take a long gun in if you pay $50 and have paperwork about your intended use.
And you cannot judge all Canadians by the actions/views of the border guards at a particular crossing. Just like the US which really consists of different regions with different views (ie. US 'proper', the Free Republic of Texas and the nanny states - CA,MA,NY,etc), Canada can be similarly described:
Ontario (run by Toronto politicians who tend to be very anti-gun)
BC (hippies and radicals; apparently good skiiing)
the west (think North, NORTH, Texas - oil, beef, wheat, pickup truck/gun rack country)
the Atlantic (generally ignored by Ontario)
the People's Republik of Quebec (wants to be a separate country as long as Canada pays for it)