[Steveston]

There are two big real estate boards covering Metro Vancouver: the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), which includes the Cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New WEstminster, the entire North Shore, the entire Northeast Sector out to Maple Ridge, and part of Delta. The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) is everything else out to and including Abbotsford. Chilliwack east to Hope has its own Board.

Another big difference between Van & Tor is the presence of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Without it, huge swaths of farmland in the 'inner belt' of suburbs would have been developed (Richmond, Delta), and most of the next ring (Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Surrey, Langley) as well.

This, coupled with the development constraints imposed by the Coast Mountains and the U.S. border, represent, I think, the primary geographic differences between Van & Tor.

There are many others, of course -- historic settlement patterns imposed by transportation barriers and bottlenecks; influence of a regional planning entity and the tension caused by it vis-a-vis the 25-or-so local government authorities, historic preference against freeway infrastructure in Van, retention of streetcar network in Tor.

Just to get the conversation started...