Apply for the MBNA SPG card. Free, and gets you 1 pt for every $1 spend, transferable 1:1 to AA or to Aeroplan (not advertised, but according to posts here, you can only change to Aeroplan if you have other SPG points to exchange i.e. from bonus offers on stays or whatever, but transfer to Aeroplan IS possible as well). Not bad for a free card.
One thing you forgot is that the 1:1 ratio kicks in only at a minimum $10k spending. Moreover, it is not entirely 1:1.
If one spends 19,999, the points awarded are as follows:
10,000 base points
5,000 bonus points for $10,000 spending
for a total of $15,000.
So it is not necessarily 1:1.