This is me. I left Vancouver for Toronto 5 years ago. What is not mentioned (that I saw) is that salaries in Vancouver are also much lower than Toronto for the same job. Montreal is even cheaper than Toronto and is probably more fun (if you are bilingual)
I am from NB (Anglo). So I have very rusty French. I am sure it would come back if I used it. Montreal is a great city. My salary doubled for the same industry (programmer with CS) going from Van to TO. Vancouver is beautiful if you like playing in the mountains. I miss the snowboarding and hiking very much. But I was almost homeless I was so poor out there.
