I also live in Richmond and operate out of Boundary Bay (though I did my training elsewhere), and would definitely recommend it as the training airport. It's reasonably busy so you'll get practice dealing with busy ATC, but not so crazy that there are long delays... most of the time.
Pacific Flying Club has very good reputation. Instructors are good from what I heard, and people generally have a good time there. Downside is they are one of the most expensive places at ZBB, which is strange considering they are non-profit. Airplanes are a little older, but well maintained from what I heard. I wouldn't worry about safety with their airplanes. Unfortunately I never flew with them so I can't tell you more than what I heard.
Professional Flight Center is also a big school, but I don't know much about it. I do know someone that's training there though, and he likes it. It's a commercial operation, so it will feel different from PFC (PFC actually feels like a club).
I currently fly with Sea Land Air, and I would recommend them as well. It's a much smaller place (only 5 airplanes), but I much prefer their airplanes over Cessnas. They operate a fleet of DA20s and 1 DA40. Very modern airplane, awesome view from the cockpit, and also pretty simple (except for the DA40, which is probably a little too complicated for PPL training). I only rent from them most of the time, but I've done some recurrency training and mountain flying training with them also, and the instructors are pretty good. For me it's mostly the airplanes, though. Really nice, modern, and well maintained airplanes for pretty low prices compared to other places (especially PFC).