Speaking from some experience in your neck of the woods - Your best tent is probably two. One for winter mountaineering and one for everything else. Most of the time I find the really good bomproof type tents that can take a snow load are a *lot* heavier than you need the rest of the year - and you will find yourself carrying an 8 pound tent for yourself all year when much of the time you could get away with sub-3. plus a lighter weight 3 season type tent will have better ventilation in the warmer (rainy) months.

Now having said that, I'd need a little more info to give you specific reccomendations (like
are you solo, or do you want a 2 person tent etc). Other than - stick to someone reputable - lots of times cheap is good at places like wal-mart - but tents are better bought from someplace that has made tents before.

I've used an MSR fury in heavy snow load with lots of success in winter. Also a bibler bombshelter (I don't own either, they belonged to freinds) as well as rental MEC tents. They were heavy as heck <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Have a look at a couple of the manufacturers in the portal area of this site. good light
tents that I know work well in BC rain are things like Henry Shires Tarptent - or an SMD lunar solo for a solo tent. You also may want to consider something like a hammock.
hennesey makes nice ones or make your own. They also work well in BC, as long as there are trees that aren't so big you can't tie around them. So, you ask me? consider two
tents from the get go. something light and nice for most of the time, and think about the big tent when(if) you occasionally go out in winter. If you're actually in canada, MEC rents 4 season capable tents cheap. You might want to only rent the monster bomproof one for the occasional winter trip.