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They were all smiles Wednesday, the cabinet ministers standing in the sunshine in the bright new River District neighbourhood in Vancouver’s southeastern-most corner.

One wag suggested the presence of so many of them in front of cameras could only mean one thing: An election is coming soon.

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On Wednesday, after months of lobbying by Metro politicians and affordable housing officials for Ottawa to do more to tackle tackling B.C.’s affordability woes, representatives of the governments of Canada, B.C. and Vancouver assembled for a press conference, two months before the looming federal election.

Some of the local figures who recently criticized Ottawa were on hand Wednesday in a celebratory mood, including Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who two months ago said the city’s dire homelessness situation depended on whether “the Prime Minister going to put his money where his mouth is.” Also, B.C. Co-operative Housing Federation executive director Thom Armstrong, who just last month co-wrote a sharply critical op-ed in The Province saying Ottawa’s housing strategy “has so far failed to launch in B.C.”