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regarding transport canada, i know that i need to fly extra flight hours through a flight school to meet their minimum flight time requirements"
First thing to consider is the 6 to 12 month expected waiting time for the category 1 (class 1) medical certificate following the medical exam.
Normally evidence of medical fitness is needed to write the exams and a valid medical certificate is needed to attempt the flight test. There might be some covid exemptions that suspend those requirements. See index at
https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/ref...gulations-cars
A list of Canadian AMEs is at:
https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/CAME-MEAC/l.aspx
The hours you mention need not necessarily be done through a flight training unit nor need they be done with a Canadian instructor. One exercise that likely needs doing is the long cross-country flight. The Canadian requirement is to land at least three times, other than at the point of departure, with one landing located at least 300 nmi from the point of departure. For the commercial, you might also need to do some night flying to reach 5 hours' solo and 10 complete circuits. On the commercial flight test you'll be required to demonstrate spin entry and recovery. There are some other pecularities on the test which can be covered with an instructor in a couple of flights. There's also a dual cross-country flight required for the instrument rating. It can be completed with any instructor or sufficiently experienced CPL/IR holder, which includes non-Canadian instructors and licence holders.
Note the Canadian interpretation of solo flight time, subsection 400.01(1) in the regulations:
solo flight time means, with respect to the flight time
necessary to acquire a permit, licence or rating,
(a) in the case of a pilot, the flight time during which
the pilot is the sole flight crew member, and
(b) in the case of a student pilot permit holder, the
flight time during which the holder is the sole
occupant of an aircraft while under the direction
and supervision of the holder of an instructor
rating for the appropriate category of aircraft;
Unless you're a Canadian resident, the solo flying can be done in a Canadian aeroplane using a foreign licence validation certificate, assuming you hold a valid SEP class rating on the EASA licence.
There's no formal requirement to attend ground school if the Canadian CPL flight experience requirements have been met, in addition to holding at least the equivalent licence from another ICAO State.
You don't need an instructor recommendation to attempt the CPAER or INRAT written exams. Para 421.13(3)(d) in the standards. It doesn't matter that your non-Canadian aircraft ratings have expired. You should email the relevant Transport Canada regional office to determine available exam sitting dates. Some regions won't have availability for months while others can offer slots almost immediately. Email addresses at
https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/civ...s_and_regional
A list of Canadian flight training units is at:
https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur...eCulture=en-CA
Study and reference guides for the CPAER and INRAT and flight test guides for the CPL/IR/MEL are all at
https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/publications
Current fees can be found and paid on Transport's Online Payment System at
https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Comm/5/OPS
The Canadian IR comes in single- and multi-engine flavours. A Canadian CPL/IR can be converted to the US equivalent without doing any further flight tests. Thereafter, an IPC done with an FAA CFI-IA will count as an IPC for the Canadian IR. Canadian aeroplane class ratings don't expire.
If your goal is to obtain any ICAO CPL/IR with the smallest investment, you should consider a South African licence. I
believe the flight test for the issue of the SACAA CPL and an SEIR can be done entirely in a flight training device. An SA class 1 medical will be issued immediately after a successful exam. However, the conversion requires the foreign licence and any ratings to be converted to be valid. To sit the conversion exams, an SACAA licence number is needed. One will be issued once the foreign licence has been verified. That can take anywhere from ten days to three months. The CPL/IR exams are based on the EASA ECQB. Government and examiner fees are quite low, as are instructor and aircraft rates and overall living costs. An Alsim 250 there goes for about 85 to 110 USD per hour dual.