Vancouverites In 'The Guardian' - "It may be expensive to live here; housing is very expensive. It took HARD WORK to buy a house, but we did it. We will continue to make sacrifices so we can live here." ... "I am an immigrant to Canada, and I am lucky enough to live in Vancouver because I bought here before it became a world-class city."

A somewhat lukewarm review of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games in ‘The Guardian’ drew comments from individuals living in Vancouver who, not surprisingly, managed to mention real estate prices:

hhcu at www.guardian.co.uk 1 Mar 2010 6:26 pm – “Vancouver with a mild climate is one of the most desirable cities to live in Canada. Housing prices are the highest in Canada. That is one of the many reasons that we have homeless people. That sounds a bit dismissive, but we also are a city of immigrants, the majority start out working at the basic minimum wage and the majority, if not all, are not homeless. I am an immigrant to Canada, and I am lucky enough to live in Vancouver because I bought here before it became a world-class city. I have lived in and traveled to many so called world-class cities and am always happy to come home to Vancouver, even in the rain which sweetens the air and makes the trees grow, at least a foot a year. The Closing Ceremony was belittled. Who cares! Even the poorest (here often bus drivers “let” some of the destitute gratis on the buses) can take a (wheelchair friendly) 99 bus out to the university forest and see a real working beaver dam, the “organizing committee” being the beavers themselves. No wonder this hardworking little animal is venerated here. Now we have the Para-Olympians to look forward to. As for the bill? It is a heck of a good party.”

ProudCanuck2010 at www.guardian.co.uk 1 Mar 2010 7:15 pm – “I am a proud Canadian, that has also lived abroad in Tokyo, and have travelled to many cities in the world, and I work in tourism/hospitality, and I have experienced racism, challenges with language, and also warm hospitality from my hosts where I visited. So I speak from experience when I say that Vancouver qualifies as a World-Class City. I chose to live in Vancouver for it’s beauty, weather, people, culture, and diversity and have called this home for 15 years after my travels abroad because it what it offers. BC residents are the healthiest in Canada, we get to look at those beautiful mountains, whenever the clouds lift, and we wait patiently and happily for those days, and live in the most liveable city in the world. And in my job, I speak with visitors EVERYDAY of how they fall in love with our city, and our province, and can’t wait to come back. It’s on the list of “Things to do before I die” for many. It may be expensive to live here, and housing, admittedly is very expensive. But we worked hard to buy a house, and it took a few years, but we did it. But it took HARD WORK, and we will continue to make sacrifices so we can live here. We could have moved to a city and found a job where it wasn’t so expensive, but we want to live HERE, and that is the price you pay. I imagine if I chose to live in other “World-Class Cities”, it would not be any different. New York? Tokyo? The same! Viva la Vancouver! It rocks!”