How is Canada different?

[Economono]

Hi all,

I'm an undergrad. from a smaller Canadian university (~6000 students) with a fairly small economics faculty. Most of my professors graduated from SFU, Toronto or Queens, and those schools are near the top of my list.

I've been reading a lot around here and on Urch/TestMagic about admissions, and in a lot of cases, GPAs seem to be unrealistic. This leads me to think that perhaps things are a bit different in Canada. To be clear, I'll be applying to M.A. programs not Ph.D programs, but in the U.S., it seems that nearly everyone applying has a 4.0 GPA and straight As in all their classes.

I will be trying to do that for my final two years* - which I've loaded up with econometrics, 400 level micro and macro and upper level MATH and STAT faculty classes (I'll end with a "Minor in Math and Statistics"), but my GPA going in to my 3rd year hovers right around 3.0, including one class I failed first year because I (irresponsibly...) slept through the exam worth 50% =\. I've been working as a research assistant, and the prof. I worked under has me working on my own independent research project with his assistance now as well; he believes it would likely be accepted in to Canadian Public Policy or Canadian Journal of Economics (I am less confident, but its worth a try!).

To what extent is my GPA going to be a killer for getting in to graduate programs?

Thanks.

* I entered university with very little idea why I was there, so I haven't put a lot of effort in thus far.

I also spent my first two years developing a software sales business that now generates meaningful profits. Anyone have any thoughts on how I could work that in as a "hey look at me, I'm driven and can excel" type thing? Or should I forget it?