Last week, I received an email from the mayor's deputy chief of staff, Kevin Quinlan, about a motion that's coming before council today.

It was fairly innocuous and repeated certain statements that his boss, Gregor Robertson, had said before. The motion mentioned asking the province to increase the property-transfer tax on expensive homes and to track information on foreign and domestic housing purchases.

I preferred instead to focus on a controversial motion by NPA councillor Melissa De Genova to try to force the closure of retail marijuana shops.

I also covered motions about real estate along West Georgia and about a liquor licence for a new Cineplex theatre in South Vancouver.

Today, I noticed that the mayor gave an exclusive interview to the Globe and Mail outlining his intention to turn over $250-million worth of city-owned property to secure federal funding for affordable housing.

This is a huge story that went utterly unmentioned in Robertson's motion. It's also nowhere to be seen on the council agenda.

The mayor's decision to give it to a Toronto-based newspaper owned by Canada's richest billionaire has likely irritated journalists at a large number of media outlets, including CBC, the Vancouver Courier, Sing Tao, CTV, Global, and CKNW Radio.

That's because they're being forced to play catch-up on something that should have been given to everyone at the same time.

Following the leak will also take attention away from covering other issues that might come up at council today, including De Genova's motion.

The mayor's aides likely chose to leak this exclusive to the Globe and Mail because they believe the paper is read by senior bureaucrats in Ottawa. And if the paper is the only one with this information, it will give it more play.

I can see why they can try to justify this as an ends-justifies-the-means manoeuvre—i.e., if it helps bring federal funding to Vancouver, it's worth doing even if it pisses off the local media.

But the reality is that this approach to media relations also reflects the too-clever-by-half mentality of the mayor's office that nearly cost Robertson the last election.

It doesn't help a politician's re-election prospects if the people who report on your activities think you're a bit of a weasel with your media relations.

Of course, if the mayor has other plans—such as being appointed to a diplomatic post by the Trudeau government—then this probably doesn't matter to him in the slightest.