While this is frustrating, they are far from the only site to do this...many sites do. I'll give Party this much - at least they spell out exactly how much you need to play. Some sites (UB is notorious for this) don't tell you a thing. They send back your deposit and tell you to play more. There is nothing in their T&C's about it either.
I think we Canadians have to get used to the fact that we now have to pay the piper to get our money out. Anytime you convert money from one currency to another in the "real world", you end up paying a little "vig". Something in the range of 1.5-2% is pretty common, unless you shop around to a currency exchange or are moving a lot of money (like $10,000+) at the bank. We were spoiled by Party for a long time, who were charging close to no vig, and didn't seem to care how much you played. Basically, many Canadians were using them as a currency exchange, and they got tired of this. I know I always deposited there when there was a bonus, then cashed out via EFT when I cleared it...thus, plenty of cover play. Don't forget, these sites get charged by the eWallets when we make a deposit...that's why we don't pay any fees.
Now Party has turned it around...they charge something like 2.4% vig each way on currency exchange, a buck or two for cashouts, and they require cover play. That puts them a little on the high side, but certainly not outrageous. It looks like we just might have to get used to paying a couple percent to get our money out. The only cheaper way I know of might be the C2P ATM card, depending on how well it's working now. The
eWallets for Canadians thread is a good resource to find out more.