Having never changed them on a Volvo can I assume it is a straightforward task?

How often a change do you recommend? Should I buy the wires and cap from the Dealer?

Lastly, do any Canadians have alternatives to the Volvo Oil Filter?

Thanks

Mark im in Montreal and a mechanic at an independant volvo garage.I strongly recomend a volvo cap wire set and oil filter.Plugs you can use bosch fr7dc but the volvo ones arent that expensive anyways.When you change cap look for numbers on top of cap so you cannot go wrong.
butchdalton@yahoo.com

I would suggest that you should buy OEM plugs and plug wire only. You can find them on the web at various discounted sites. If you have no high performance upgrades there is no point in looking at Magnecor plug wires or Iridium plugs etc. I change my plugs at 30,000 miles and I am about to change plug wires now at 70,000. I will also change rotor and distributor cap (the cap is probably overkill but it is not expensive so why not). It is a very staightforward job, Volvospeed Bay 13 gives a very useful firing order drawing and make sure you have the right sized Torx drivers for the various screws to be removed.
Best of Luck,
John Scales (1996 850R)