Don't.
Buy a REIT ETF. Vanguard has one. VRE.TO. It's not perfect.
Ontario is very tenant-friendly (overly so, IMHO).
Yes, it would be a rental. You would get a property manager (10% of gross rents). You would pay capital gains on any appreciation between purchase and converting it to a primary residence.
You won't get a mortgage. There are new rules on foreign ownership. Rent increases are capped for all rentals now. Anything round Toronto is insanely expensive.
Ottawa is better, but still not good. Buy a $300k house, rent it out for $1200-1500. Um. Then pay property tax, factor vacancy, maintenance, property management... And those friendly tenants trashing the place or at least not taking good care of it... And insurance.
Then you'll have to pay tax on any profit, in both Canada and where you live now (rental income usually gets taxed first by the country where the property physically is). There may or may not be a double taxation agreement.
I may be biased.