I'm not an accountant but I have benefited from some tax rules.
If you have some tax planning strategy or deductions that have been helpful in reducing your tax rate maybe you can post them?
For us, a home office and a suite in our primary residence have been helpful because we can deduct mortgage interest based on the % of floor space used as a rental/office and all direct expenses. We don't claim capital cost allowance on the property because we would like to maintain our capital gains tax exemption to the extent possible. If your rental is furnished you can write off a depreciation amount each year.
In order to preserve the CCA on a principal residence:
•your rental or business use of the property is relatively small in relation to its use as your principal residence;
•you do not make any structural changes to the property to make it more suitable for rental or business purposes; and
•you do not deduct any CCA on the part you are using for rental or business purposes.
Here is a link to more info (see comments):
http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/rental-property-income-taxes-and-deductions.htmAnd the CRA guide:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4036/t4036-e.html