Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm an American living in Australia right now (Adelaide) and wife and I are thinking of moving to Victoria on Vancouver Island. She's a GP and I'm a geek. I know the home prices are going to be high, but tbh, it seems Australia is also quite high! If one was willing to live in the suburbs, a bit away from the city, is it really as bad as people say? Also, how is the tech scene in Victoria?
What attracts you to Victoria? It's a vastly different climate, of course. It's a beautiful city in summer. You'd be in a corner for travel purposes. (I'll be leaving the Pacific Northwest mainly to get out of the corner.)
I'm also a person who likes smaller places, but need to be close to an international airport (for work) so Victoria has that going for it.
My wife is a GP and likes to be in smaller communities so she can connect with the people more, so that is playing in her mind.
And we have kids and don't really want to raise them in a "city". That, and the schools in Victoria seem to be really good...and they have a good French immersion school. Our kids speak French, but neither my wife or I can properly teach them to read or write...so we wanted to send them to French school until about 8th grade.