It takes a certain skill set to try and fix a problem and possibly botch it up even more, but the B.C. government is certainly testing the idea as it flails about hoping to cool Vancouver's red-hot housing market.

For months the government had been in denial over the issue: overblown, isolated to a few neighbourhoods, it said.

Since then its approach has gone from "the market will correct itself," to a "bold action plan," to legislating a retroactive 15 per cent tax on foreign ownership.

Along the way the government bought time by setting up a panel to investigate allegations of questionable practices in the real estate industry and retaining the Conference Board of Canada "to conduct a research study on housing affordability."

It did seem impatient, though. In a few areas under review, the government acted first, final reports be damned.

You don't get the sense of a comprehensive housing policy, but a mishmash of knee-jerk reactions.

It muddied the waters in early July by releasing 19 days of data on foreign home ownership transactions.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong was caught flat footed when asked why he didn't wait a day or two to include transactions from June 30, when a significant number of home sales would have closed.

Despite cautions over the data, it didn't stop the self-interested from embracing the numbers. ("See, no problem.")

Then two weeks ago a new data set. There may be a problem after all.

The self-interested switched tack fast.

Suddenly, five weeks of data was insufficient to form any real conclusions, even though the caveat-laden 19-day data set had been just fine.

It left more than a few pundits dizzy.

The only person who may not have been surprised by the twists and turns was Vision Vancouver and B.C. Liberal party bagman Bob Rennie.

Rennie holds the distinction for setting B.C.'s record for the most expensive political fundraising lunch at $25,000 a plate for Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson's 2014 re-election campaign.

In a July interview with the Globe and Mail, Rennie claimed to have known about the impending tax three weeks before legislation was tabled.

A statement that didn't go over so well with his developer buddies or government pals.

It was backtracked fast to an "educated guess."

For someone who was quite vocal on the issue in June, the media-saavy Rennie was uncharacteristically quiet in July, particularly given his educated guess and the means available to him to raise the alarm.