Similar to the American west how? Do you mean the kind of stereotypical "American wild west" idea presented in Hollywood? If that, then no, not really. Though Alberta does like to feign a certain "wild west" appearance, the prairies weren't really European-settled until the late 1800s. They were inhabited by many First Nations people (including Assiniboine, Cree, Blackfoot, Sioux, and many other groups), and some Métis (though my distinction in that respect is dicey), however other than that, most of the people who traveled in to Alberta were the Voyageurs. Saskatchewan and Alberta, especially, comprised what was known as "Rupert's Land", owned by the Hudson's Bay company, with the main goal being fur-trading.

Manitoba was a bit different; it was on the Hudson's Bay, and had more settlement, and a fair bit of inter-marriage with the First Nations people (the aforementioned Métis people are the product of this inter-mingling and -marriage). Being more easily reached, both from the Hudson and from the Great Lakes (via the St. Lawrence), it had some settlements, and joined Canada as a province in 1871 (before PEI!), though this was a contentious issue, particularly with the Métis. You can read about Louis Riel and the Red River Resistance here, or by checking out this if you prefer graphic novels!

And for whom? For the European settlers, no, not really. There was a lot working different than the US west, in particular, the winter. It was a tough time surviving Canadian winters in the early years, and people had to work together quite a lot, as well as rely on those who knew how to survive (ie the First Nations people; it's what got Champlain through his first winter in 1604, though I'm having trouble finding online sources that mention this fact). So, the whole "shoot first and ask questions later" ideal wasn't particularly useful for survival, unless it was the summer, in which case you were generally trying to grow all the food you needed to survive the winter. As well, there were different groups of people who were encouraged to settle the new territories; in Manitoba, there were many French, German, and Ukrainian immigrants (in that order, chronologically) as they needed more people to settle the area. The English also did a lot of settling when they took control in 1763.

There was the brief Republic of Manitobah attempt, for what that's worth, but it didn't last long, and how much you can consider that similar to the "American west" is up to how you define that idea.

For the First Nations people, well, they were used for fur trade, but otherwise not well-respected or -treated; this is a common theme through most of North American history, though. The Métis, again, are something of an outlying group. It was original a term used as a catch-all for the children of unions from European fur-traders and First Nations women, though it soon grew in to its own distinct group. They were also the ones involved in the Red River Rebellion/Resistance, as mentioned, so how you consider that as a similarity of the US west is another matter for consideration.

Overall, the question is a bit unclear, but as much as I can do so, I would answer "No", though with the caveat of "yes, in that a lot of exploration was going on, though it was done a bit differently up north". There's also BC, which I didn't get in to; there were Mexican and Colombian claims there, and California extended up that far at one point, though the area was fully ceded to the British by the Treaty of 1818, and solidified by the Oregon treaty.

For more information, you may like to check out The Birth of Western Canada, by George Stanley. It was written in the 1930s, but is still one of the better summations of the history of the Canadian West (I have a copy that is as yet unread, though I'm told there's some 1930s-style racism in it, so take it with a grain of salt).