VANCOUVER - In the first significant public appearance of mayoral candidates in the Vancouver election, in which affordable housing was on the agenda, Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was a no-show.

But if Tuesday’s breakfast panel session organized by the Urban Development Institute was supposed to inform its members about the election, most developers were no-shows as well.

The event, held in the tony and high-ceilinged Pacific Ballroom at Hotel Vancouver, was billed as an opportunity to hear the city’s major mayoral candidates debate how they would create housing affordable in Vancouver’s hyper-tight market. But with Robertson boycotting the UDI over a perceived event sponsorship by an enemy, many of the developers who would pay to listen to him and who donate generously to his party stayed away as well.

Just 70 people bought tickets for the UDI breakfast, and some did not even show up. Only 60 or so people, including several media, attended the event, and about a third of those were supporters and candidates of the three candidates who took the stage.

Originally billed as a panel discussion between mayoral candidates Kirk LaPointe of the Non-Partisan Association, Meena Wong of the Coalition of Progressive Electors and Robertson, it changed to a candidates’ meeting with the addition of Green party council candidate Adriane Carr.

Robertson’s handlers refused to agree in part because it was to have been sponsored by developer Rob Macdonald, a former NPA vice-president who had publicly smeared the mayor over his marital breakdown. Macdonald had also donated $960,000 to the NPA in the 2011 election, making it the single-largest political donation in Canadian municipal history.

Anne McMullin, the executive director of the UDI’s Pacific Region, said her organization pulled Macdonald’s sponsorship of the debate in an effort to encourage Robertson to attend. He still refused. She said the mayor has not addessed the UDI, which bills itself as a national non-profit and non-partisan association representing people involved in development, planning and property management, since 2009.

McMullin downplayed the poor attendance, saying her members tend to skip political events. But it was clear from the ostentatious venue that the UDI had hoped the panel discussion on affordable housing would be well attended by those now doing business with the Vision-controlled city.

“It is an act of a certain amount of cowardice for a sitting mayor to avoid questioning and engagement,” LaPointe said of the mayor’s boycott. Wong chimed in, saying Robertson is “so transparent we can’t see you any more.” Carr declined to take a shot at the mayor.

On the issue of affordable housing, both LaPointe and Carr said Vancouver lacks a modern city plan. As a result, it has become a city of spot rezonings that lead to neighbourhood conflicts.

LaPointe said the city’s community amenity contribution system in which developers pay extra charges but which “disappears into city hall” without a clear public understanding of benefits, needs to be reworked. He described a “broken relationship” between the city and developers that has resulted in the public believing Vision Vancouver’s council plays favourites with those who donate to its party.