I had a chat with the marketing folks at the Armalite booth and asked about a new AR180.
Turns out they were already working on bringing back an improved version this year with an aluminum lower and some other changes. He would not give me any specifics, but said it was essentially the same design with a better lower.
They shelved it after the current BS in the states - they have little extra capacity and were not sure a new rifle that might get banned would be a good plan.
The gentleman I was taking to was very interested in why it was so popular in Canada, and so I explained the whole NR thing to him (as much as you can ever explain our gun laws).
In short, once the dust settles, if there is no comprehensive AWB, we might see a new AR180 up here.