In my humble opinion, the best ski resort in the canadian rockies is Fernie. Depending on how long you plan to stay, here is what I would do:
Fly into Calgary, rent a minivan or SUV.
Day 1 - ski Fernie (3 hours from Calgary) then drive to Revelstoke (2 - 3 hour drive)
Day 2 - ski Kicking Horse (never been there, heard good things). Drive to Lake Louse (in Banff - under 2 hrs).
Day 3 - ski Lake Louise - if you can do it mid week, it will be less crowded. Stay at Lake Louise a second night.
Day 4 - ski Sunshine Village - it is a great hill, it's not often sunny there but still fun.
Day 5 - check out Banff / back to Calgary (2 hour drive).
For lift tickets, AMA (AAA) has the best deals - you go to the AMA office and prebuy the tickets. If you plan to do this before XMAS, buy a ski Louise card ($45) gets you a $10 - $15 discount per day and you get your second day free. Check out
http://www.skircr.com/ for details on Lake Louise, Kimberley, Fernie etc.
The RCR hills give a realy good rate on a lesson / rental / lift ticket package (I think it's around $75 all in) and you can forget to show up for the lesson - wink wink.
One other thing to take in is that Lake Louise has a program called Ski Friends where they give you a complimentary ski tour of the mountain according to your ski level. It's a great way to learn where the cool terrain is.
If you have more time, check out Kimberley too. Castle Mountain is also down by Fernie but is no beginner's hill. Whistler is way more expensive and I don't think the skiing is any better.