His info is wrong.
Pilot recruitment has been frozen until (financial year ending in) 2013, but bursaries and sponsorships still exist, though some might not be worth as much. Given that he has at least one more year at secondary school then 3-4 years of university and a potential gap year then by the time all of that's done recruitment will definitely be open again. Sure, the numbers will be small, but the numbers were always small compared to the amount who applied. The upper age limit for pilot recruitment is now 25 yrs and 364 days [on start of training], so to cast it all aside because at 17 it looks a bit iffy for a year or two is dodgy at best.
As for the RCAF, he'd have to be a Canadian citizen.