Sep 23, 2026 · 38 min · 9 segments
Alex Williams, Alanna de Boer, and Helga Vanthournout get together to discuss speaking at council, housing, and more!
Alanna de BoerGuestIt is where it all comes together, the people, the infrastructure, the stuff.
Housing is one of the big spending categories for any household, together with mobility and food.
So how we do housing matters, both from an affordability perspective and from a quality of life perspective.
They find it very hard to imagine living in a different way that still would make them really happy.
And so I see it as my role to one, kind of support anything that gets people housed as a bare minimum, but then also to support initiatives that will allow people to have a very high quality of life in a way that doesn't burden our budgets unnecessarily, that doesn't burden the environment unnecessarily, that doesn't burden the city's budget, which obviously will come back to us as individuals as well, unnecessarily.
And obviously what Alana is working on, actually transport, but also public transport, is very much part of that as well.
It's very much tied together, right? I would say quality of life from the bare minimum all the way to this is how I want or how one could want to live.
I really like that you pointed out that cities are kind of where it all comes together and where a lot of this activity as people happen.
And that's not to say that what happens in, you know, the rural parts of the country aren't important.
And so, you know, we're pretty familiar with the importance of everything that happens outside of the city.
Cities have come to play an increasingly important part in everyday life in our government.
And I would love to do a deep dive on the different ways that our different levels of government raise taxes to fund the different services that we require and the different infrastructures that we benefit from.
It is where it all comes together, the people, the infrastructure, the stuff.
Housing is one of the big spending categories for any household, together with mobility and food.
So how we do housing matters, both from an affordability perspective and from a quality of life perspective.
They find it very hard to imagine living in a different way that still would make them really happy.
And so I see it as my role to one, kind of support anything that gets people housed as a bare minimum, but then also to support initiatives that will allow people to have a very high quality of life in a way that doesn't burden our budgets unnecessarily, that doesn't burden the environment unnecessarily, that doesn't burden the city's budget, which obviously will come back to us as individuals as well, unnecessarily.
And obviously what Alana is working on, actually transport, but also public transport, is very much part of that as well.
It's very much tied together, right? I would say quality of life from the bare minimum all the way to this is how I want or how one could want to live.
I really like that you pointed out that cities are kind of where it all comes together and where a lot of this activity as people happen.
And that's not to say that what happens in, you know, the rural parts of the country aren't important.
And so, you know, we're pretty familiar with the importance of everything that happens outside of the city.
Cities have come to play an increasingly important part in everyday life in our government.
And I would love to do a deep dive on the different ways that our different levels of government raise taxes to fund the different services that we require and the different infrastructures that we benefit from.
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