Taxes, duty and paperwork on the Canadian side have nothing to do with the point at hand. In order to export the scope from the US, you have to have an export licence from the US State Department. In some cases, you have to do the import paperwork from DFAIT to bring it in as well. You see, the reason why there are additional costs which you don't see right now is that the legal dealer has to deal with the whole export process, pay someone to process the paperwork, pay when the shipment is held at warehouse in Canada and then received. That is what a legal dealer has to do. When you get a buddy to send one across that he got at Cabellas...you are likely going to get a cheaper price because you don't have to deal with any of the legal requirements that a dealer does.
Purchasing will never be leveled when at the end of the day we have this thing called the border which requires paperwork on both sides to get a legal shipment across the border.