The comparison does not reduce to a price. One amount is capital that stays exposed in a business with continuing obligations; the other is a payment that is not expected to return. The current figures come from their own official sources.
Compare risk and duty, not headline numbers
The investor thresholds are set by statute at one million fifty thousand dollars, or eight hundred thousand for a targeted employment area or infrastructure project under the 2022 framework, subject to adjustment and therefore requiring verification. That money is invested, may be lost, and carries a job-creation obligation and a later filing. The Gold Card amount is stated on the official government page and is described there as a gift plus a processing fee. Asking which is cheaper treats them as equivalents. The better question is which set of obligations the family is willing and able to carry, and what each outcome actually delivers. Answering that first usually makes the amounts easier to think about rather than harder.
Hypothetical example: A Canadian couple sells a small bookbinding business and receives two proposals: one asks for a private deposit, while the other refers to an official gift payment. The first review should identify the applicant, recipient, amount, processing charge, payment stage, and refund terms in each proposal. Current official material settles the authorized recipient and terms. Decide whether the family accepts the gift nature of the payment before treating it as comparable to capital committed to an investment; the economic purpose and risk are not the same.