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After a decade leading the City of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson has announced he will not run for re-election this fall.

“Today I announce one of the hardest decisions of my life,” begins a post on Facebook published earlier today (January 10). “This will be my last term as Mayor of Vancouver - I won’t be seeking re-election on October 20.”

Robertson was elected mayor in 2008.

He writes that the decision against running for a fourth term was made after reflecting with friends and family over the holidays.

The post goes on to list accomplishments and challenges.

“We were first in North America to become a City of Reconciliation, working in deep partnership with Indigenous peoples. We helped lead the global fight against climate change. We successfully hosted the 2010 Games. We built the strongest city economy in Canada.

“We never shied away from tackling the toughest issues. We didn’t back down from opening homeless shelters, warming centers, modular or supportive housing to help our most vulnerable residents. We made Vancouver a city that speaks out forcefully against racism, homophobia and transphobia. We’ve led the national effort to fight for health-focused drug policy and saving lives in the opioid overdose crisis.

“We've made great progress towards being the world's greenest city, we’ve built a creative, resilient economy with leading edge tech and innovation, and become a much safer city. We’ve done more to protect and build affordable housing than any city in the country but we must continue to work tirelessly to end homelessness, and keep pressure on other levels of government to work with us and do their part.”

Robertson writes that he’ll remain hard at work for the rest of his term.

“Over the next ten months, I’ll be focused on securing funding for the Broadway Subway and transit projects across the region, taking aggressive action to approve record levels of affordable housing, and creating even more vibrant public spaces on par with the new Arbutus Greenway and Jim Deva Plaza.”

Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party has entered a bit of a transition phase ahead of the October 2018 election.

One of its most popular councillors, Andrea Reimer, announced she isn’t running for re-election last October. And 2017 saw Vision lose a sharp executive director, Stepan Vdovine.

The party also made a weak showing in an October 2017 by-election that was held to fill a council seat after Vision’s Geoff Meggs left civic politics for a job in the B.C. premier’s office. Vision’s first-time candidate, Diego Cardona, came in fifth place.

Vision’s other city councillors are Heather Deal, Kerry Jang, Raymond Louie, and Tim Stevenson.

Before Robertson was elected mayor in 2008, he was an MLA for the NDP and cofounded the Happy Planet juice company.