yyzdub,
That seems a rather negative way of looking at someone who may be seriously considering immigrating to Canada.
I agree that there are many pilots in Canada, however the job market is opening up and Immigration Minister Joe Vulpe is very keen to make immigration to Canada much easier, less expensive and much faster - hence his new in-Canada process for any skilled worker who has been in the country for 6 months or more (from 2007).
As I said in my reply to Adrian, the CIC memo about FI training shows the CIC (and therefore presumably HRSDC also) has more than a passing interest in encouraging CPL and FI training for foreign students. Surely that counts as "living, working and positively contributing" to Canadian society.
As someone who lives on both sides of the pond, I do agree with you however, that the best approach to a Canadian is not usually "well, I couldn't get into the US so I thought I'd try Canada." However, factually, it is generally easier to gain Canadian citizenship (67 points, the application fee - even without a job offer - and the processing time for a skilled worker application).
I also know from experience that while the possibility of living and working in the US is generally on the radar of consciousness of people in the UK, the same cannot be said for Canada. The gem that forms the upper half of North America is virtually unknown to the British unless they have family there - even though the Queen is Head of State (let's not go there if it's a sensitive topic).
Hopefully Adrian will do some research and see what Canada has to offer in terms of quality of life as well as flight training.
Andrew