In Canada, Investor class immigrants only need to invest $400K (but need a net worth of $800K), although it's unclear how the investment process actually works. A simpler option is the Entrepreneur Program, which only requires showing business experience and a net worth of $300K. See http://www.cic.gc.ca/ENGLISH/immigrate/business/i... for the details.

Which makes me wonder: couldn't we simply hack the existing Entrepreneur Program? Use some contract between the investor and the individual to allow them to effectively meet these requirements without having to get the government to make any changes?

And mine. Which is exactly my point.

While there is no reason not to try to get every smart entrepreneur to come to Canada, some will be easier to convince than others. Efforts to retain talent as well as to re-attract some of the 2.8 million Canadians living outside of Canada will need to eventually be a part of the approach, especially in the coming war for talent accompanying the exit of the boomers. One only need to look at the various regions in China and their "sea turtle" programs to get an idea of what we might be up against.