A Hybrid will be the most comfortable for what you want, but won't be great off road. I was in the Bike Shop and found one for my co-worker for $800. MEC has some for around that price as well. It is really the bottom end of what you can pay for something that won't frustrate you with crappy gears and brakes. You can always sell it for a bit of a loss, and will probably still be further ahead than the cheepos.
I used to assemble Zellers/Wall Mart bikes, and those are horrible machines, barely able to make it out of the store without falling apart. I got really good at setting them up, but man, I would never wish those on my enemies. Sport Chek/Canadian Tire are a step up from them, though. Still, I'd rather spend $800, find I don't like it and sell it for $400 than spend $300 on a bike that sucks and you won't be able to sell.
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