Yeah, already did that and there is an 8-week wait for an appointment but hubby needs to travel to US in the next 2 weeks for work....:-( Looks like we're all trekking down to the border in his gas guzzler this weekend then!

So if flagpoling, do you still need an ESTA?

No not if driving the usual I94 waiver is required if wishing to enter the US.
ESTA is for Air or Sea.
Most people who get the Administrative Refusal from US Customs never encounter further entry problems.

Ok, so change of plan now - we're not going to flagpole, but instead I'm going to take a day trip to Seattle to land, then hubby can go to his conference in the US the week after and land when he returns. Questions though - if I'm grilled at US immigration about the purpose of my day visit, will they baulk at me doing a round trip in a single day and what reason should I give for the purpose of my visit?

Im assuming you are flying to Seattle as driving from Edmonton is going to take almost all day. As long as you have a return ticket and ESTA or I94 waiver then you will be ok. Purpose of your trip is shopping and to flagpole.

Yep - that's correct. I already have the ESTA from my trip to Vegas in April. So they're ok with you saying you're flagpoling when flying?

Just one comment on the CIC office situation - when we were looking to flagpole 8 months ago, I knew there was a CIC office in Oshawa which is very close to us. I called in there to see if it was possible to do the necessary there and if so, make an appointment (at that time, they were generally quoting 6-8 weeks wait on the website to make such an appointment).
I was told it wasn't necessary, just to return at a sensible time with all the paperwork ie not just before closing time. This we did - we had a 10 minute wait and then were processed in about 15 minutes.

When I look at the CIC website now, it doesn't list the Oshawa office at all. I don't know now how I knew there was an office there - and perhaps it is no longer open? But if it is still open, perhaps there are other similar CIC offices around which aren't advertised.

Can anyone perhaps confirm that the list on the CIC website lists the only possible options?

A whole bunch of offices where you could do this closed about 3 months ago. Oshawa was one of these, hence no longer on the website..

Obviously it was too easy to do :-) What a shame. Anyway thanks for the info

Over many years in immigration I have never heard of anyone having any trouble with the flagpole procedure nor have I heard of anyone somehow getting onto an American "watch" list because of it. Sometimes one has to wait a few minutes or more if the US border service office is busy.

Yes. They might look at you strangely but as long as you have a return ticket there should be no problems.