Hey Riggs,
A few things that I would look for in a crossbow would be reliability and comfort.
You want to be comfortable with whatever it is you choose to hunt with, whether its a bow, rifle, crossbow ect.
There are many manufacturers of crossbows these days, some new, some have been around for a long time. Personally I like recurve crossbows (such as excalibur) over compound crossbows for the simple fact that they are more reliable, with less moving parts this means less things to go wrong.
The appeal to compound crossbows usually relates to speed. Which don't get me wrong is nice, but realistically speaking, even the slowest excalibur crossbow going 285fps will kill whatever you want to hunt in manitoba.
The compound crossbow makers are always in a race to see who can have the fastest quietest most compact unit out there, and I feel they sometimes try to push the limits too far, resulting in unreliable products. (This is a generalization, not necesarilly ture in all cases)
Your best bet is to go try a few out and see what fits you, and what will suit your needs for hunting.
Good luck
Allan