As a Canadian with a bachelor’s degree from MIT, I would not describe MIT as having a “liberal arts education”. Have you checked the general education requirements at MIT? The math and science classes there are quite challenging.
Otherwise I think that you have solid safeties in Canada, and the various US reach schools are possible. I think that you just need to be patient and wait and see what happens.
However, I would not take on any significant debt to get a bachelor’s degree in the US if you can manage U of Toronto (or Western or York) without debt.