Well palm trees are not native to San Franciso either, (same with most of Europe where on can find them, and even areas such as South Africa the majority of the palms are not native) so you must not like them there as well.
So how do palms go with the land scape and architecture there?
Especially given that the biogeoclimate zone of Victoria and San Fran are far more similar than you think. Victoria is in the Douglas Fir, Arbutus, Garry Oak ecosystem with Garry Oak meadows. This is a common ecosystem found throughout Northern, and even central California along the coast. In fact one can even find the prickly pear cactus growing in the driest hillside of southern Vancouver Island. Again, it is classified as sub Mediterranean.
I also fail to see how it does not match the architecture since many of the buildings in these posts are quite similar to those found in California (especially the condos around English Bay, which have actually been used as Miami stand ins for several TV shows) Not to mention several of the buildings in the pictures also have red tiled roofs, very Mediterranean looking IMO.
I think it may simply go against your pre-conceived notion of Canada. I had a friend who came from Japan to Canada to study English and he really did not enjoy staying in Vancouver, because before he came into Canada he had it in his head that all Canadian cities were akin to small rural towns, so to him it was unfitting that Vancouver was a multi-million person city with large office towers and a metro system.
What I like to show in my photo threads is that not everywhere in Canada is the stereotypical "Canadian" image
Here is another photo thread I posted recently about the semi-desert regions in BC just 3 hours east of Vancouver:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=183264
Please take a look at that one as well
