The most significant difference in thrift shopping east of BC is that there were no sales taxes charged in most non-profit thrift shops. Perhaps that's a benefit of HST wherever the province chooses not to charge ales tax.
Québec
Thrift shop are abundant in Québec, most affiliated with a parish church or with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. However, many are only open a day or two a week, or even a month! Municipal governments promote recycling and community inclusion for the less-employable so there are also these shops. Municipalities and churches that do not have thrift shops may have a flea market in the spring.
Ontario
As expected, the province has many thrift shops for all causes. The Catholic church isn't as significant a presence as in Québec, as are commuinty and mutual aid thrift shops.
Manitoba
Winnipeg abounds in thrift shops. In addition, there are MCCs in many towns and villages. Some ridiculously small. We didn't have the time to visit more than a handful in Winnipeg. Portage La Prairie's 3 shops were conveniently located only few hundred metres from each other.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan proved to be a hard place to thrift shop. Perhaps people are too thrifty. Regina but the city only has less than half a dozen thrift shops. We also made stops in Swift Current and Moose Jaw which only had a couple each.
Alberta
Calgary has a whole host of shops but most were off the Trans-Canada so we didn't visit more than a small handful. Surprisingly, Banff has one at a United Church. We also visited a few in Medicine Hat. Too small a sample t make a judgement.
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