Scotiabank also offers the "same" card under their banner; has the same insurances, comes with the 20,000 bonus points and gets 4x points on groceries, restaurants, fast food, gas & entertainment. With scotiabank you buy your travel from any vendor (airline, bus company, hotel, there's a list on their website) and apply your points to your monthly statement (points also never expire, they have a web tool to do it all yourself). 1 point = $0.01 for travel. $1 = 1 point = $0.01, except for the bonus categories, then $1 = 4 points = $0.04.
Annual fee is $99, and isn't waived for the first year. It would take $2,475 worth of groceries, gas, food and entertainment dollars to pay for the annual fee (half of the bonus points from the AmEx offer tho). Or $9900 of normal spending.
AmEx is accepted at pretty much every gas station under the sun, through PayPal, Amazon.ca, Chapters.ca, Starbucks.ca (and most Starbucks stores), most Subway restaurants Canada Post, Sobeys, Costco... Big names that don't accept it include anything Loblaws (except their fuel stations), Tim Horton's, Home Hardware, etc.
Since I'm a Scotiabank customer I got a no-fee rewards card (1 reward for $2) to use at places that don't accept AmEx, and set the points to automatically transfer.
Anyways, just wanted to share the alternative option.
PS: The reason I have a AmEx gold card is for the travel insurance and the warranty extension (doubles any warranty for up to an additional year). If you bought your own travel insurance and always bought extended warranties, the card end up being a MUCH cheaper option.