you can enter canada on a tourist visa, yes; however, if you already have an application pending you might have an issue at border control. you see, the iec program is supposed to be "done" from outside canada, upon entrance they give you your work permit. when they swipe your passport in the borders they can automatically see what applications you have pending with the canadian government. they will ask you what your purpose for travelling to canada is. and that is where the issue is, what are you going to answer? visiting as tourist? no you're not, since you already have a work permit application pending. work? no, since you don't have the approval yet. i suggest remaining home till you get your approval to avoid problems.
what i did was enter canada as a tourist, applied online within canada and after i got the approval, i flagpoled (this is a valid term, mind you) and got my work permit.
if you're wondering what flagpoling is, it's when you exit the canadian borders, you don't enter the us borders, you just tell the border officer in usa that you need to re-enter canada to get your work permit, they give you a paper with handwritten the word across it "flagpole" and then you enter canada again where they process your work permit or pr.
