We watch a lot of CNN (it's cheaper than buying a ticket to a horror movie), so want to give a shout out to commentator Fareed Zakaria for his hat tip to Canada during last week’s ULI spring conference at the Convention Centre—the first time ULI has held such as event outside the US. Over 3,000 real estate pros from around the globe gathered to share ideas. In his address to sign-off the three-day conference, Fareed saluted Canada as a “democracy that works.”

CBRE’s Ross Moore says he thinks most delegates left the city with the impression that Canada and its real estate markets are just fine, thank you very much (commercial for sure—“residential, they just don’t get!”). Ross felt people came to Vancouver looking for a blemish in the market but couldn’t find one. "And hey, it didn’t rain and the blossoms were overwhelming." In the image is Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson accepting the ULI Urban Open Space Award for the Parks and Waterfront at Southeast False Creek.