some corrections based on facts

Gas in Australia is only 10% more than Vancouver (i visited Sydney/Melbourn this past March), across the border in the USA, the gas price is 30% cheaper than Vancouver.
Weekends parking in Vancouver (the whole area including downtown) is not free, same rates as weekdays. It's only free in Victoria over the weekends/holidays.
It's harder to do business in Canada/USA than in Australia because of those big box stores, like Home-depot, Costco, Walmart, Outlet stores etc. They are everywhere, very little room for small businesses.
You have to consider though that the wages in Australia is higher than Canada/USA, 15 years ago, i was washing dishes as a part time job in Perth, the rate was $11.56/hr, in Vancouver now i believe it's still only $8.5/hr(minimum hourly pay).