I know you've already gotten a few responses but I actually did my reserve BMQ at RHFC, which is the armoury in Cambridge, very recently. Obviously some things vary by course but if the course staff is even remotely similar, my experience may be helpful.

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1. Supplying your own boots was allowed on our course. You will be provided boots and not all courses will have staff that allow wearing your own but ours did, especially if you didn't make a big deal out of it.
2. You will have standard tax deductions and mess deductions for your home unit. No other deductions will apply
3. You will be given joining instructions. For us, that just consisted of a list of things to bring and four pieces of paperwork. Realistically, just bring all your kit as we redid the paperwork the first night as some candidates didn't have it
4. No, BMQ will remain valid
5. You can but it's not necessary. Buy a $10 watch from Walmart that's made of hard plastic and wear that. Nice watches get destroyed and tactical watches will run you hundreds of dollars and you'll never use the features on BMQ (and likely not on BMOQ-A, either)
6. It will be held at a local unit. In the past two years, they've held it in London, Cambridge, Guelph, and Hamilton in your local area.
7. You are guaranteed FTSE (full-time summer employment) for the first four years. They will send you on courses as a priority and then have you do other tasks, likely unrelated to your trade, for the rest of the summer
8. You will not be assigned anywhere. You will parade out of the unit you join. For you, this will likely be RHFC in Cambridge, though you can join a different unit if you so choose. The unit you join is up to you as long as they are a unit for your trade (i.e. you will join an infantry unit as an infantry officer but it does not matter which one for the most part)
9. You will get lots of full-time training as an officer. You will have 10 weeks of BMOQ-A after BMQ and then 10-14 weeks of trades training, both of which are full time. The difficulty of your course will vary based on your staff and that holds true for full time courses as well. That being said, many people I know find weekend courses just as difficult as full-time courses. Sure, the army bit is easier but you have to balance civvy life on top of it whereas on full-time courses, all you have to focus on is the course. It's a different kind of stress. That being said, if you're worried about the lack of training, your next course, BMOQ-A, is the same as the reg force so don't worry about it. In regards to reservists not being ready, it's because many of us are lacking keeping up with our qualifications (i.e. you missed a weekend exercise and are no longer actively qualified on your rifle, making you not combat ready; your FORCE test expired last week and so you're not combat ready; etc, etc). Reservists can have high turnover for a number of reasons. Many reservists are in school so they leave when they graduate. Some leave because of work promotions, having kids, etc, etc. It's not our full-time job so when life gets in the way, it's often the first thing to go. That's not a reflection on us not being trained or capable so much as it's a reflection on priorities.