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Many commentators are correct in saying that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was slow to recognize how an onslaught of foreign capital was making the city’s housing unaffordable.

Along with all the strong criticism Robertson has taken on social media, The Vancouver Sun and Province have frequently reported on people arguing he’s fallen gravely short on housing.

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Following Robertson’s announcement Wednesday that he would not seek another term in office, Globe columnist Gary Mason also said Robertson “would have gone into the next civic vote dogged by the one issue that will cast a long and ominous shadow over his record: housing.”

There’s some truth to these criticisms. But sometimes I think the public, and the media, put too much of a spotlight on the mayor of Vancouver. Why have we let so many other municipal politicians off the hook?

With his high profile and longevity in office, Robertson has come to symbolize political inaction on housing, as well as denialism — including with his 2015 accusation that an Andy Yan study about foreign capital had “racist tones.”(That red herring echoed the tactics of real-estate industry officials.)