Honestly, if people haven't gotten into domaining yet for .com's, they aren't going to get in for .ca's in any big way soon.
It boggles me why more people aren't into it, everyone's on the internet, everyone uses websites, people must here about domain sales from time to time. You need a credit card and an internet connection, and a little drive, that's it. It can be done evenings and weekends part-time, a few hours a week even. It's a mystery - other than lots of people shy away from tech stuff, they want to use websites, they don't want to know how it all works because they think it's beyond them - "Call the tech guy!". But to buy a domain name and park it, or use an easy site builder to build a webpage, is as easy as using MS Word or Excel.
IMO it will be a gradual progression over time of more people turning to domaining (and .ca's) for the same reasons most of us are here.
The good thing for us who are here now, is that over the next few years there will be more people investing into .ca domains and less quality available. There will be more private and public companies using domains, including .ca's, the likes of Marchex, Communicate, iReit, Tucows, Name Administration, and so on. The big .com portfolio holders are still just in the early stages of figuring out how to monetize their best domains beyond PPC.
Only three years ago (2005), you could fresh reg as many LLL.ca as you wanted. Same with NNN.ca. An x,xxx or xx,xxx reported .ca sale was not a common occurrence. What will be the state of the market in 2011 if the internet still runs the way it does now?
The .ca market? It will take care of itself with more speculators, investers, individuals, businesses, and end-users slowly getting tuned in to the power of a good domain. Domainers will get better at monetizing their .ca domains and have less reason to sell. Those who don't figure out how to do this will get bought out by those who do. My opinion is to look at what's happening in .com, and think of .ca as being a few years behind their trends. Right now the trend in .com is consolidation and developping. In general, we are behind but will benefit by watching what they do.
As for public perception, I think the worst perception which is not really defensible is TM domains - that never shows domaining in a positive light. Parking however is a legitimate business endeavour, if people don't like it that's their problem, sad to say. Some people get offended when they read about someone parking domains and making $2,000 a day, but they probably get offended by anyone making big $$$ because it isn't them. Most mainstream articles I've read lately are showing domaining in a positive light and being quite fair, as opposed to not long ago when the press equated parking with squatting. It's important for the public to understand there is a distinction between the two.
