While I am an absolute beginner if digital photo editing--and have zero artistic sense--I have found that I could pull sky highlights very easily out of the RAW photo vs the camera JPEG.
From what I have seen, if you like the JPEG's out of the canon cameras and don't need post processing--you will find it very difficult to improve on what comes out of the camera (with a little tweaking of camera defaults, possibly pull EV to -1/3, use vivid colors in a bland environment, use neutral or custom colors with saturation dialed down in a colorful environment ,or if you want to post process, use custom and dial back the sharpening, etc.).
Besides the somewhat expanded dynamic range (highlights and shadows that, in RAW, are not simply white or black), RAW is good for where you will be doing a lot of post processing. Things like WB correction, pasting, croping, etc. are better done on the original data than JPEG that has already been adjusted (by the camera) for screen/print display.
For example, sharpening on a JPEG cannot easily be undone and if further processed can create halos and false colors on edges and fine lines (or further emphasize the halos, JPEG compression artifacts, and false colors already present in the original JPEG). Sharpening, as understand, should be done as one of the last steps--not the first step as would happen if a JPEG is post processed.
-Bill
