According to this, the visitor status does count. What doesn't is the period waiting for a refugee claim, or having legal issues (prison, parole...)
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...esidence/calculate-physical-presence.html#s05
@onestranger the physical presence calculator makes the calculation for you. If you were in Canada on a given day, you put it there with the actual immigration status and you let the system do the rest.
The general wisdom is not rely on these days for your 1095 days to potentially make things smoother, by having a large enough buffer of days, but if you have actual proof that you were here on a given period (in case IRCC asks for additional documentation), you'll be good to go.
What's for sure is that you don't get to "decide" which days you include. You just input everything, with the change of status when you go from one to the other (visitor to temporary worker in your case), and let the system assess your eligibility.