The standard PPL will be a waste of time and money if the purpose of the trip is to obtain a CPL. Subsection 401.03(2) in the Canadian aviation regulations allows you to act as PIC on a Canadian aircraft using a valid non-Canadian licence for the purpose of undertaking a Canadian flight test. Therefore you will only need a pilot permit, PPL, or FLVC in order to act as PIC in any other circumstances, eg to meet outstanding experience requirements or simply to escape the excruciating boredom of Winnipeg.
The FLVC can be issued with a validity period of up to 12 months. It is available only to non-residents and it may be used to fly a Canadian aircraft outside of Canada, eg over the San Juan Islands. There is no written exam, no flight test, and no requirement for a Canadian medical. The recent experience requirements in section 401.05 of the regulations do not apply to the FLVC. Note that failing a Canadian written exam will prevent the FLVC being issued until the exam has been successfully passed. There is a 14 day waiting period before a failed exam can be rewritten and the waiting period increases with each subsequent failure. This is explained in the section on the rewriting of examinations in the
Study And Reference Guide for Written Examinations for the Commercial Pilot Licence Aeroplane (TP 12881). It is therefore prudent to apply for the FLVC before attempting the CPAER or INRAT exams.
If you do not wish to rely on the validity of your EASA licence, eg you wish to avoid keeping the SEP class rating or the medical certificate valid, then a foreign-based or standard PPL might be worthwhile. I have been told by a particularly erudite Canadian licensing officer that the foreign-based PPL is not considered to be dependent on the validity of the foreign licence.
From 9 Aug or 9 Sep, depending on nationality, fully vaccinated foreign nationals may enter Canada for discretionary purposes. So it looks like attendance at a DLI with COVID-19 readiness plan will no longer be necessary. See
https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/tr...s/wizard-start or the relevant Order in Council at
https://orders-in-council.canada.ca
When I inquired with Industry Canada in 2015 I was advised that the foreign equivalent of an ROC-A was not a permissible substitute when operating the radio on a Canadian aircraft in Canada. One ROC-A examiner advertises that the exam can be done remotely by video conference owing to Covid-19 (
link) and states a processing time of about a month. The certificate will be posted by Industry Canada or whatever it's now called and does not form part of the aviation document booklet issued by Transport.