Vancouver Island is much more affordable; seems like the person is willing to live away from dense urban centres. The insanity of Canadian real estate seems to be isolated to Toronto and Vancouver, although prices are predictably rising in "nearby" suburbs such as Kitchener/Waterloo (Ontario) or Langley/Surrey (near Vancouver).
Yeah, what I mean is that, if you compare like to like, it's at insane California levels. So, in the city in Vancouver is comparable to SF. In the suburbs of Vancouver is comparable to suburbs of LA/SF. Rural land anywhere in BC is comparable to rural land in CA.
So, rural land on Vancouver island is more affordable in the sense that there are less economic opportunities that come with that land, so the land costs less to buy. Which might be a good tradeoff for somebody who doesn't need to be near a job, but is not super useful to the majority of people who do.