I noticed some parallels between stuff in the book and stuff that's happened in Vancouver. The 2010 Olympics comes to mind. That there was a lot of hoopla around it, a lot of tourists came and it was this big deal for the government; but at the same time it was facilitating gentrification particularly in the DTES. Also the destruction of public housing aspect seems analagous to the fight over the fate of the Little Mountain Housing project, among other things.
That's cool. I've not spent much time in Vancouver but I'm glad the novel feels like it resonates to experiences beyond my own.