You are asking us to predict the best options for your personal and corporate tax situation.  We can't do that.  It is best you discuss this with your accountant, that's their job.

If you choose payroll, no you don't have to add payroll to your Sage 50 program.  You can do it all manually, including calculation of the company portion of CPP if applicable, and pay yourself through the payables module and do your T4's on the CRA website at the end of the year.  I wouldn't do this with a lot of employees but for yourself it is not too difficult.

You would have to do remittances, even if you don't pay yourself during a period.