RE: Low wing trainer?
Graham,
The two "standard" first-time low airplanes that you'll probably hear kicked about most often are the Sig Four Star or the Golberg Tiger/Tiger 2.
You'll get opinions on both of them and everybody will have their preference. If you show up at the field with one of those as your "second" airplane 45% of the people will say you picked the right one, 45% will say you should have picked the other one and the remaining 10% will have some other airplane in mind.
FWIW, the four star was my second... I built 2 of the 40 size from kits... one, after I had flown the %^$& out of it, I gave away to a guy who needed an airframe to get back in the saddle (he still has it) and the other survived a couple of "incidents" and is still up in the attic (minus an engine etc). I now have a 40 size and a 60 size (ARFs)... both see a lot of use.
One more thing... Whitehorse isn't all that far north... I grew up in Ross and did high school in Faro!