That's the frost line in southern Ontario. There's no sense pouring a footing unless you get below the frost.

I'm also in southern Ontario and planning a deck build. Was thinking blocks, but will probably do footings.

Instead of an auger, go to home depot and rent the little skid steer thing with an auger on it. They're fairly cheap and you get the pleasure of a machine doing all the hard work for you. Bonus points for it because they usually send it on a trailer with a little bucket too so you can easily deal with the dirt from the hole.

Have you tried using lifting straps? They loop over your wrist and wrap around the bar, you just have to press the strap against the bar in order to create enough friction to stop or from unraveling. The are used for pulling exercises only, but might be a cheap way to get you doing some of those movements.