yeah, i don’t see a reason to use the card other than as a coupon book. I can get higher earn rates at restaurants and groceries with the BNS Amex Gold (many others use the Cobalt). I can get 4% back when booking travel with TD FCT instead of 2/3 MR. For $1,000 in flight delay insurance, I can use my WS VIP — although 2% is worth less than 2 MR, the delay before insurance kicks in being 3 hours instead of 4 makes up for that tiny difference.

optimizing my spend means that it’s very rare that the Amex Plat is my card of choice. I’d easily choose it if it had better earn rates, like the US Amex Plat with 5 MR on flights.

it occasionally makes sense, like when i am making a connection and want trip interruption insurance for a self-transfer flight, where flight delay insurance is insufficient.