Our family of 6 wants to move from California.  We're considering
Oregon and Canada, but see that our money will go a LOT further in BC
than the Pacific Northwest.  We will have about a US$400K net worth
and want to purchase a business, rental property or B&B/motel.  We
want to put 50% down on the property we purchase (both investment
property and a home of our own) and finance the rest, and would like
to spend only $2-300K on property downpayments.

I've read the CIC and it looks like Entreuprenurial (sp?) Business
immigration is what we want.  We need to establish one full time job
for a Canadian for 3 years.  We have managed a retail business (a
worker's collective of 21 workers) which has $2,000,000 gross sales
for the past 10 years.  This would be a qualifying business?

At the very end of the CIC business page
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/business/entrep-2.html I need "qualifying
Canadian business" translated.  If we purchase a motel or B&B, the net
income must be $25K (I'm unclear on the equity part as it translates
to myself and my husband) OR our net assets must be $125K Canadian OR
we have created 2 full time jobs for Canadians?  (we must meet 2 of
those 3)

What would be the benefit for not immigrating and how long would we
have to stay out of Canada?  How long could we "visit"?

What would our tax implications be?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/call.html

You should phone them, I think they are usually happy to talk to
people in your situation.

These numbers are for both automated support and call centre agents.

You can call them, but don't take their word for gospel. Remember,
they are civil servants who work 8 am to 4 pm for generous pensions
and benefits and not necessarily because they want to be helpful.
There are a few court cases in Canada where people and/or business
have gotten advanced rulings on transactions regarding taxation from
Revenue Canada, only to have Revenue Canada come back on them in court
and win.

I believe it also states this on the Revenue Canada website that
employee interpretations don't necessarily reflect what the courts
would rule for. Absurd but true.