Municipal Election 2025 city councillor candidate (Ward papastew) Q&As: Michael Janz

This article is part of The Gateway’s Q&A series with the 2025 municipal election city councillor candidates in Ward papastew. Ward papastew is home to the University of Alberta’s North Campus.

Michael Janz is the current city councillor for Ward papastew in the City of Edmonton. The councillor is an independent candidate seeking re-election. Janz sat down for an interview with The Gateway to talk about how he would address student issues.

The following responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Why are you running in this election?

Michael Janz: I’m running for re-election to continue building a more affordable, accessible, and welcoming city for everyone. I have a long history of advocacy on affordability and housing, going back to my days as the president of the Lister Hall Students’ Association, where [I advocated] for better food quality and better food pricing. Then I was [elected] president of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU), where I fought for more student housing and more affordable tuition, books, and academic materials. Then I was involved for over a decade after my Master’s degree in education in education advocacy as a public school trustee and chair of the Edmonton Public School Board. [Later] in 2021, I was elected as city councillor for Ward papastew.

This is where I live. This is where my children are. This where my family is. We want to build a city where it can be more affordable [to live], where walking or public transit or cycling could be your first choice, not your last choice. [Overall], [I want to] build a better community that makes more people, especially students, want to stay in Edmonton once they’re done their studies.

What would you say are the three main takeaways from your platforms?

Janz: The first thing to emphasize is that I am not part of the Danielle Smith political party experiment [which is] trying to force city councillors into a kind of a partisan system where they have slates. I’m an independent, I am progressive. I am endorsed by many climate groups, unions, transit groups, [etc.]. [As such], I am not beholden to Danielle Smith or the United Conservative Party (UCP), unlike some of my opponents and other people running in this election who are bought and sold by the big money interests. So, this election is a choice between candidates who aligned with the UCP and candidates who are not, like me. I don’t think we need Danielle Smith as the shadow mayor of Edmonton.

[Additionally], I’m interested in more housing choices, more transportation choices. The two biggest things that the city can do to help improve your affordability and quality of life is help you own either a one car or [be] a zero car family, or also help you have more housing choices close to where you live. So for students, how long is your commute? [And what can we do] to make that shorter? How can we make your rent more affordable? How can we provide you more options? So you’re not taking the only place available, but you have a choice between places available.

If elected, you would be responsible for representing many of the students who attend the U of A. What would your priority be in representing those students on city council?

Janz: The two biggest cost drivers for students are their housing and their transportation. I have a plan to help make those more affordable.

I also talked about how we need to expand the Leisure Access Program. Right now, if you’re a low-income individual in the City of Edmonton, you can get access to the zoo, to the [recreation centres], to the golf courses, to the swimming pools, to all of the city amenities for free. [However], if you’re a full time post-secondary student, you are not eligible, and that doesn’t make sense. So what I’m [going to do] is to try and make sure that students can fully participate, as Edmontonians, in all of those recreation amenities. I think it’ll help students fall in love with the city and the public services that Edmonton has to offer. [This will make them] more likely to want to stay here, play here, and build a family here once they graduate.

Affordability is a big issue for students. How do you plan to advocate for students amidst the cost-of-living crisis?

Janz: We’ve been in a housing crisis where many students are forced into renting homes or apartments where they have no choice, but [out of limited availability] sometimes it’s subpar basement suites. Sometimes it’s crummy accommodations. [Because of that], I want to help make sure that we can build more buildings close to campus, close to where students want to live, close to transit, so that wherever you are in the city, you can you can have great housing options.

[Additionally], I want to [continue supporting] the [expansion] and enhancing of public transit, so that is faster, more affordable and more accessible. Also, I’m a big supporter of active transportation and biking. Many students bike to school, and [I] want to make sure that we have safe routes to school, safe lockups, and that you can do more things in your life more often without going further from where you need to be.

Transit access and transit safety are other big concerns for students. How would you work to address these issues?

Janz: I’ve worked to enhance transit safety by adding more social workers, more security, more lighting, and more mirrors. We’ve done a bunch of design improvements. We’ve added more people to the platforms. Ultimately, the problems of the province and the public safety in Alberta become problems of the platform, and that’s not acceptable. We need to make sure that you feel safe on transit, whether it’s 2:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the morning.