Canon has long had a strong point of low cost mass produced camera equipment that may not be the very best, but it is a good value for the money.
They do make design compromises in favor of lowering the cost of production while still making a excellent product. This has allowed them to have a higher profit margin and still price products very competitively. Thats why I bought my first Canon FTQL back in the 1960's, a Nikon was just too expensive. I had a Nikon CP 990 when the Digital Rebel came out, and bought one because once again, I got more for my dollar. Same with 5D MK II and a lot of other Canon models.
I don't know if that will always hold true, they seem to be raising prices to the point where they are close to Nikon, and the 1D X might even be more expensive, we have yet to see the price. However, the cost of nikon lenses is still far ahead of the Canon ones.