The problem is you still have to get your experience in Canada before any of the overseas airlines will hire you. Everyone wants jet time which is even more of a pain to come by in Canada.
If you have the right to live/work in the EU it's the ticket. You can get onto a 737 or similar with really low time there compared to Canada and get the 1500-2000 hours of jet that seems to be the magic number.
If you have to start in Canada then do what you have to to get the 2K jet time and then work on moving overseas if that is what you want to do. The only problem is surviving on the salaries they pay there until you can make the move. Don't get me wrong, if you know the right people or are lucky you can make a decent career in canada, but it's the exception rather than the rule.
AC has lowered their time requirements now, since basically a generation of guys that started in the late 80's early 90's gave up on ever getting on there and either went to WJ or moved overseas. If you can get onto AC when you are in your mid to late 20's, still living at home with the folks so you don't have to pay rent, or have several roomates, then it's still a viable career choice. You will eventually make decent money, you just have to get through the first 3-4 years, same for WJ though its a bit better. Guys in their mid 30's with bills to pay and families to take care of who have 7000+ hours just can't afford to work for AC/WJ and alot of us went overseas. Nevermind the fact that you'd have to wait years for a command on anything bigger than a RJ. I think if I had gone the military route i would have just stayed with it, got some good friends in the CF still and they love it.
I've been working in the Middle East for the last 3 years or so and like it so far, though there have been days at a certain staff travel building where homocide seemed like the best solution to an issue.
