A little late to the party here, but Mrs. +TSRA and I were at a party last week attended by several people who are involved in hiring pilots for some local airlines. Even though I was but a fly on the wall as it was my wifes domain, there were two conversations that were had, one right after the other, that are salient for the OP.
The first conversation revolved around how poor the hiring market is right now for experienced pilots, how many new hires require additional training or how they're having problems with the work ethic of these pilots, or how many are being fired or simply leaving within their first year. To me it sounded expensive and that some of these companies may be entering territory that I would class as desperate for experience. I might have considered it all a little hyperbolic were it not for my wife coming home over the last few months saying many of the things that were said at this party. As such, the OP should have no problem with the experience listed in finding a job with the disciplined background that comes from military service. While I agree with aviran that foreign military experience can present challenges, I've seen quite a few companies (present one included) take a chance on a pilot in a similar situation. Having trained previous members of the Thai, Saudi, and Turkish Air Forces, I can say that it doesn't take that much instructing experience to quickly identified whether a pilot was telling the truth or not regarding military service.
The second conversation, spurred by the first, was how many of these companies are actively, or are otherwise highly considering, avoiding pilots with work permits and are all but limiting themselves to those with
PR or citizenship. There were a few comments made about just how long Immigration Canada is taking to verify or renew work permits, or other issues they're having with visas or other approvals. One guy told of a situation he's having where one of his pilots on a work permit needs to go to the US for training, but the TSA won't give him authorization to train because he is from a "wrong country" (his words) and, if that were not enough, if he leaves the Canada while he is still waiting for his new work permit to arrive, Immigration Canada will cancel his permit as he left the country during a renewal period. It apparently doesn't matter that he's leaving for a work purpose. I almost sounds like the textbook definition of quagmire to me. But, back to the OP - I would wait until you have your
PR so that you avoid some of, if not all of, these issues. I would also make sure that even if you have your
PR, are you able to get visas or TSA approval without issue. I can't remember all the rules that surround having a
PR, with my wife now being a citizen for so long, so just do your due diligence.
Lastly, more experience is never a bad thing, and aviran is again right - the job or job opportunity you have right now is much better than the thought of a potential one down the road...a bird in the hand versus two in the bush sort of thing. Lord only knows how the Canadian economy will look in 2 years, to say nothing of the next few months as all major airlines in Canada are beginning to reduce frequency to the US. Given there is only so many places to send a narrowbody to, my gut says hiring in Canada will be stagnant for a while longer yet, likely well into 2027. I don't think layoffs are likely, but the midterms in the US might have something to say about that come November.