>Vancouver
Merit-based is very good - but Vancouver is not a good city to use as a comparison, because of all the money.
literally EVERYONE on the West side of the city (literally half the city), is rich af.
Tech, movie industry, lawyers, doctors, family money, real estate money.
>--> No immigrant can afford to move to Vancouver unless they are ALREADY RICH:
The average detached house in Vancouver is over $2,000,000 US dollars.
And that's includes the shit areas.
>average house on the West side of Vancouver (the half where you'd want to live) is around $4,000,000+ USD.
>even a 2-bedroom condo averages around $1.4 million USD.
It's beautiful, but very expensive, and there's not a great deal of cultural diversity.
Theres always been a strong China-Vancouver connection, with Chinese having lived here since 1860, and there are more than ever now. But pretty much everyone in Vancouver is either
White-Canadian
Chinese-Canadian
or Chinese-Chinese
A good amount of Americans
And a handful Brits, Germans, and Swiss, but that's it.
There are (many) more expensive cars and supercars than LA or anywhere but Monaco And Dubai. On the West Side, you constantly see loads of Lamborghinis, McLarens, BMW's, Volvos, Mercedes, Ferraris, Porsches, Audis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Range Rovers, Lotus, etc.
>There's even a fucking Pagani store, and those things are close to $2 million per car.
Go for a hike in Pacific Spirit Park (2x the size of Central Park), then stop by Stong's in Dunbar for your grass-fed organic milk at $14 for 1 gallon,
You've got world-class skiing, sailing, restaurants, gardening, hiking and mountain-biking.
Endless blossoms and billions of flowers, hummingbirds, massive trees, bald eagles, whales, bears, cougars, and orcas (killer whales).
LA is a 3-hour flight, and Hawaii is 5 hours away, if you need a change of scene.