How do I get started in information technology?

I’m in grade 12 and I want to know what education I need to get into an IT career.

I live in Toronto, Canada and there are only 2 Universities (outside the city) that offer a Bachelor of Information Technology.

There are three colleges in my area that offer diplomas for Systems Technology, Systems Technician, Information Systems Business Analyst, and Networking.

Is it better to get a diploma from college or a degree to get started in information technology?
Is there any other way of starting an IT career?

get certifications first… then worry about getting a degree… seriously a well certified guy is almost always better and more valuable then a guy with a diploma… what part of IT do you want to get into? it really is a broad field.
start by studying for a+ then decide if you want to do windows admin network admin DBA (oracle sql etc) or development or whatever… there are certs for all of these paths… just go down the path and you will do ok…