Non-resident in Canada: NR73

Hi,
I am a Canadian who moved with family from Canada to the US for employment in August 2008. For the year 2008, I filed my Canadian taxes as a resident and in the US as a non-resident (1040NR). However, in 2009, I will be a resident for tax purposes in the US. As of now, I intend being in the US for the next 7 to 8 years.
Now for tax purposes, I need to inform CRA in Canada that I am a non-resident. However, according to my gathered knowledge, I need to sever all ties with Canada and to my knowledge I have done that. I just have a bank account and RRSPs.
On this website, one of the comrades also informed me that while filing the Canadian taxes for 2008, I should inform the CRA on the first page that I ceased being a resident end of 2008. However since I filed my taxes online, for some reason, I was not asked about my residency. So I called up the CRA folks who put me in touch the international tax folks at CRA who told me to fill the NR 73 form. This is a mammoth form which asks for every minutiae in the world.
So, after this long background, now comes my question. Do I need to fill this form NR73 or can I avoid it without consequences. On pursuing through other online forums, I found that if I do not file my Canadian taxes without CRA acknowledging me as a non-resident then I am deemed a delinquent filer.
Any suggestions or experiences are appreciated. Thanks!

If they've asked you to do it unfortunately you have to do it. You shouldn't have a problem per se because you clearly aren't a tax resident of Canada from the sounds of it but that form does really suck!

Another reason to file paper returns that I'll have to bear in mind.