I think Vancouver's problem is that they don't have a strong economy otherwise. Berlin and new York are bad but at least they offer well paying jobs. That's what I gathered from a coworker who used to live in Vancouver.
Exactly. I'm currently working as a software engineer here, and the average wage is significantly lower than what Seattle companies offer (even if you ignore the difference in exchange rate). This combined with the housing affordability crisis makes it easy to leave.
