American living in China moving to Vancouver

Hi folks - My wife and I are planning to relocate from Shanghai to Vancouver early in Protected content . I'm looking to start building up our personal and professional contacts before we make the move. I've heard from many sources that Vancouver can be very cliquey and a difficult place to make friends. Having lived my whole life in New York and Shanghai, both cities where its ridiculously easy to make new friends and business contacts, I'm a bit nervous about that. I'm in architecture (design project management to be specific) and my wife is in film production, but we're just looking to meet cool people with a global perspective. Here in Shanghai, you meet people from all over the world every day, and we hope to be able to continue that when we move to Vancouver. That being said, any advice on the best forums, websites, etc to start building up our networks - both personal and professional? Also - Any thoughts on good resources to put together some reasonably accurate cost of living calculations for Vancouver? Any help would be greatly appreciated!