applying ahead to visit canada in 2012

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greetings,

i'm steve from the philippines. me and my wife are interested to visit canada in 2012 probably december next year. as tourist only in canada and planned trip will be december 2012, can we apply early next year? we want only to visit our relatives their and see canada.

is applying for a tourist visa same as applying for a US tourist visa? can we choose for a multiple entry visa? do we need to gather documents that we will still return to the philippines? we have funds to travel as we usually do every year end. do we still have to declare our relatives and other contact persons living in canada as reference?

thankyou
steve