I don't think so for several reasons. Vancouver has been the odds on favorite for some time, and the technical and theme considerations take place over a prolonged period of time (more than a year, I believe).
First, Vancouver and particularly Whistler have significant existing facilities. Whistler is an unquestionably world class ski resort with a great tourist infrastructure as it is. Some upgrading to the villiage will no doubt be necessary but there's a very strong base to start from. It's only two hours from Vancouver, a trip that should be easier and shorter once the highway between the two is upgraded. You also have accomodations and communications facilities in place capable of hosting something of this scale, regularly tested by World Cup events.
Time zones play a part, no doubt, as well. The S.Korea summer Olympics were a ratings disaster. As well, I'm unsure if they have any existing facilities for Alpine events nearly good enough, and there's no history of Korea hosting major winter spectacles (Calgary worked great OTOH). There's also the sticky little issue of North Korea that could screw things up big. South Korea is also known for its massive strikes, and with the problems getting Athens ready the IOC may be hyper-sensitive about taking a similar chance elsewhere. Recall that Bejing gets the summer games in 08 as well so there's the IOC's desire to move the games between continents on top of all else.
Hockey and Ice Skating are the big TV draws for the games, and Vancouver will be able to ensure top quality ice surfaces for both. Canadian ice technicians are often used by Olympic cities for prep and maintenance (remember the Candian Loonie hidden under the center ice face off circle in SLC?) so they'll already be on site. Plus, and this is a big one, the CBC has major broadcasting assets in Vancouver to provide feeds to other broadcasters, and the fact is no one can do winter sports like they can (especially skating and hockey).
If there were any political aspects to the decision I would suspect its stemming more from the pairs ice skating fiasco in SLC. That was hugely embarassing for the IOC and the French suffered a lot of prestige inside the upper levels of the IOC for their actions. I don't think they're influence is what it was. Additionally, Toronto was beaten for the 08 summer games by Bejing, in a selection that is widely believed to be a pre-ordained result engineered by Samarach as his "parting gift" to China. This could have been seen as a way to make up for that decision, one that many in the Olympic movement were none to happy about.
The only thing that I see as a negative in this is the fact that it does make it harder for NYC to get the 2012 summer games, and makes any attempt by Toronto to continue seeking them basically pointless. Still, NYC games have the attraction of pretty much guaranteed TV ratings and U.S.-style hype, so the fact that while still in North America NY has the advantage of not being in Canada. There's still reason to hope for NY in 2012 if the bid is strong enough.