AFAIK if you spend at least 2 years studying here you automatically qualify for a 3 year work permit. I think rolling that into permanent residency is a lot easier than just applying for a work visa or PR out of the gate
International student tuition is way more expensive here in Canada than it is for citizens, but I'm not sure how it stacks up against normal US tuition.
Grain of salt, everything I've said is based on anecdotes from people I know who went through it