I live on Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo. Prices are much more reasonable, it's a beautiful place to live, there are quite a few startups here, and it's just a 15 min floatplane ride to downtown Vancouver or Victoria.

http://business.financialpost.com/management/nanaimo-quietly...

Only problem might be immigration, but the Start-up Visa Program might be an option:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/ind...