Agreed. I really like YVR but it's not as alive as YYZ. I feel YYZ has a lot of the good things about NYC without most of the bad things, which is a great combination for me. I've lived in both cities (technically, Richmond and North York) and I used to prefer YVR for the diversity and close access to Asia but now I prefer YYZ for its fast pace and easy access to YUL, CHI and the US east coast.

I think YVR would be a good choice if you want to slow down your life a bit and relax. You can pretty much say goodbye to weekends in BOS-WAS corridor (even NYC would be a very short weekend) but you can do some quick getaways to LAX, SFO, SEA and maybe even the likes of PDX and PHX. I guess you have to decide whether you value your M-F lifestyle more than your weekend lifestyle.