The author's moronic follow up:

Thanks for those who took the time to make thoughtful comments. As for the trolls, go suck eggs, I couldn't care less what you think. My motive for writing this was hardly jealousy, as some have suggested. I lived in Vancouver for 13 years and chose to move to Edmonton of my own free will. I have never regretted it. I simply couldn't afford to live there and raise a family, like so many others who have left. Do I wish my home in Edmonton had tripled in value over the past 15 years, through no effort of my own or as a result of nothing but good fortune? Sure. Who wouldn't. I'll take manna from heaven as readily as the next guy. But that's beside the point. The point of my piece is this: the economic self-interest of Vancouver property owners is clearly not aligned with the economic self-interest of Alberta's oil industry, the province's key economic driver. There is simply a giant mismatch here, and I see no likelihood that it is about to be bridged. On one hand, those lucky souls who sit on property riches in Vancouver have nothing to gain from increased oil cargo passing through the Port of Vancouver, even though they must live with the risks - and potential loss of property value - that goes with a possible spill. Those who say Vancouverites don't think about this possibility are either naive or in denial, in my view. I'm not suggesting this dominates their daily lives, or even that it is even a regular subject of discussion at the office or dinner table. All I'm saying is that if your local economy is doing well largely because of an ongoing flow of billions of dollars from wealthy offshore property buyers, thereby making tens of thousands of local property owners instant millionaires - at least on paper - I suspect you'd have a natural aversion to (1) complaining about it, thereby risking upsetting the apple cart; (2) encouraging industrial activity that may in some way risk your standard of living, not to mention your ocean view; and (3) supporting the very industry that runs counter to your city's established 'brand' as a green paradise, which in turn encourages more property buying by wealthy foreign or domestic players. By the way, I once worked as a business journalist and as a corporate communications consultant in Vancouver. In the latter role, I had an inside look at how many local firms and their senior execs see the world. It taught me much about the 'play first, work later' Vancouver mindset, and it is as different from the hard-working Alberta mentality as night and day. If you think the CEOs of these companies, who live in homes worth $5-$10 million or more in neighbourhoods like Point Grey, Shaughnessy, British Properties or Southlands, give a fig about supporting Alberta's oil industry just because it creates good jobs, taxes and royalty income for Alberta, I'd ask why so few of them have spoken out in support of the need for more pipelines. Sure, environmental issues play a role, as well as cleanup preparedness. But self-interest, economic self-interest, is the guiding principal for most. By and large, those who think otherwise haven't spent years of their life reporting on these folks or advising them for 5 years, as I once did. So please. Spare the high-minded rhetoric.