1. Temporarily become a non-resident of Canada. Can you even do this and still be a citizen? I would not be opposed to getting a residency visa somewhere else and waiting out whatever time period I need to, but am not sure on the logistics.
Oh, this I know about! :) I'm officially a non-resident as of this year. You can absolutely do this and remain a citizen; you file a departure tax return once with CRA, and then never again until/unless you return to Canada.
Couple of notable things about this status, beyond the requirement to qualify under CRA's list of primary/secondary ties to Canada (which you can find online):
- You must be considered a resident of another country in order to be a non-resident of Canada. (So that foreign residency visa you mentioned is a necessity. Simply leaving the country and travelling the world for years doesn't make you a non-resident. If no other country claims you, Canada does.)
- You must have no plans to return to Canada. This one is about intention at the time you declare non-residency. Non-residents do in fact return to Canada all the time, and don't get in trouble with CRA for it - but it's dependent on whether they believe you were honest about your intentions. Staying away for several years and raising children in another country? You're going to be fine. Leaving and moving back after six months? They're going to retroactively reassess you as a resident for that period of time. Mostly that just means you'll owe them whatever income taxes you didn't pay over that period, taking into account whatever tax treaty might exist between Canada and the country where you were living. I don't know what would happen with a LIRA, if you unlocked it based on your non-resident status and then retroactively lost that status.
(You can optionally get an opinion letter from the CRA about whether they consider you a non-resident in your situation, which is what I did, but this letter is explicitly not binding, and CRA reserves the right to change their minds later about your intent to return. And they do that on a case by case basis, looking at each situation individually, which is why I'm not giving you any specific rules about how long you have to be living out of Canada for your non-residency status to pass the sniff test. That's not the only factor they look at.)
TL;DR: I wouldn't do this just for a LIRA. It would be a lot simpler to go the financial hardship route.