If the problem is only winter, Vancouver's winter can hardly be called extreme, since it rarely dips below freezing point in the city.
The elephant in the room when it comes to salaries in the US-vs-Canada discussion that young people seem to not realize is that, in Canada, it's fairly trivial for a spouse to get a work visa and get a decent income even outside of the tech sector, whereas you're more or less forced to be a stay-at-home-mom family if you're planning to build a life in the US.
At this point with 50% approval rating, I doubt you'll see an incumbent lose 2020
And then there are others who are hoping for it...
FWIW, HSLIs especially from India are suffering because of policies by Clinton/Bush/Obama administrations.
Trump administration just ensured that every rule is followed to the T.
This may sound sadistic, but I'm glad Trump administration is doing this, because immigrants and employers will start feeling the heat of these insane rules, and finally it may lead to a sensible legal immigration reform. Had it not been for Trump, you'd have more than 95% of those HSLI waiting for Green Cards not utter a thing against the rules from the previous administrations.
Getting deported is not the issue. Problem is that every single day you wake up to this uncertainty that you may get deported, but you are not sure. And being a legal immigrant who broke no rules, adds to that frustration, of being treated like an unwanted immigrant in a country that most people are blissfully unaware of.
Therefore I would consider weather and environment also a bit of a personal preference thing.
no legal mountain biking