[Synchronizor]

Like others have said, I prefer steelies for winter tires. Inexpensive, they work just fine, and they're going to get muddy and nasty driving around in the snow anyway. Easy enough to clean up and refresh yourself every few years if the salt starts getting to them. If you just can't stand the look of those, I guess it would be up to your aesthetic preferences what you want to run.

Not sure if you have them in Canada, but I am a huge fan of Cooper Weather-Master snow tires. I've put them on a number of different vehicles, all with outstanding results. They are a studdable tire; I prefer to run studs in the winter because a lot of the streets around here are not plowed regularly, and the snow is quickly packed down to pretty much solid ice. That's where studs make a difference. For non-packed snow and slush it's the tread pattern & rubber formulation that make snow tires better than summer tires, and you probably don't need studs if that's what you're mostly dealing with. The trade-off to studs is less grip and stopping ability on clear pavement, and I have had one or two close calls that probably would have been a little less hairy if the tires weren't studded.

Plusses and minuses, like everything in life.