Vancouver developers Peter and Shahram Malek have lost two great fortunes, both times at the hands of a hostile government. First, as young men in the flush of success, they were forced from Revolutionary Iran, leaving behind the massive construction and development business built by their father. Second, and more surprisingly, after rebuilding in Vancouver, to the point that they could deliver an internationally admired 80-acre, 1.5 millionsquare-foot Athletes Village in time for the 2010 Olympics, and the City pushed the project into insolvency and seized everything but the Maleks' own homes.

Either disaster would have ruined less resilient players. The Maleks, however, stand triumphant, and their company, Millennium Development Corporation, continues to enhance their chosen home of Metro Vancouver. When they found themselves attacked, rather than thanked, they never faltered. They remain - greatly to the benefit of their fellow citizens - city builders.

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Richard Littlemore is a strategist and senior writer at James Hoggan & Associates and the editor of DeSmogBlog.com. He has served in the Canadian government's Kyoto implementation process and as an elected representative to the metropolitan government of Vancouver, B.C. He lives in Nanaimo, B.C.

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