I've always thought that one of the biggest factors which retarded Vancouver's growth was the lack of connection south of the Frazer river. The first bridge wasn't constructed until 1905, and development proceeded only slowly. For most of its history some of the best land was seriously underutilized.
Had the capital of the colony of British Columbia remained in the vicinity of Fprt Langley, not only would the government save the costs of carving New Westminster out of the forest, but the CPR would be forced to build a bridge across the Frazer decades earlier than OTL. With the rail connection and the prospect of cheap electric power from Stave lake, Langley could have become a major center in it's own right.
I suspect there were some political reasons why the authorities didn't want good links to the land south of the Fraser in the early years. I seem to recall that the armouries in New Westminster were intended to help prevent an invader from crossing the Fraser