Air Canada Aeroplan does give complimentary access to their Maple Leaf Lounges at their Elite level (35K EQM). This level also qualifies as star gold which would give access to the RCC in the US (I believe - can someone confirm this). You could credit some of your travel to Aeroplan in order to gain free lounge access.
It is true that Air Canada has a lower qualification threshold for *A Gold, and that with AC *G you have free access to RCC even when traveling domestically in the US. But neither of this would help the OP: he is 1P already, and he is looking for a better alternative to RCC. He can already access the (excellent) Maple Leaf Lounges if he happens to be traveling in Canada.