I'd definitely have an unsexy finances talk with him to make sure you're on the same page. Of course, you'll agree on some things and not others and that's fine. Big picture is what matters.
Maybe try out the sketchy apartment gym a few times to see if it's really as bad as you fear?
I have no idea if your insurance rates are reasonable for Canada/your area specifically, but it is high compared to what I'd pay here.
Do you actually need almost 10k for an emergency fund?
I'm not really sure.
I'm going off the whole "3-6 months' living expenses" recommendation from a recent preparing for your retirement course I went to last week. Personally, I've always liked having 3+ months of living stashed away because that's a month longer than my job search lasts when I transition between jobs. I also want a bit larger of a buffer right now because Mr. Mouse's work is laying off people and my job is also in jeopardy of not getting renewed - having a larger account would help make sure we can both take our time to find a job that won't rob us of our sanity.
But that being said, I'm not sure if it's really necessary. Is there something else you'd recommend?
3-6 months living expenses is a decent place to start. So is what helps you sleep at night.
Walk yourself through each of your scenarios and see what they would actually result in. Also figure out how likely they are based on your own situation. Decide what you would do in even a very unlikely "lightning strike during a tornado" type situation (multiple $$$ emergencies at once).
For me, I have high job security and my girlfriend is self-employed. Her business is a bit seasonal, and sometimes she'll have big clients that are a bit slow about paying. Also, she often needs to be able to drop funds on work-related travel ahead of getting paid for the work. We have one car, no kids, multiple dogs, and own a house with a mortgage. Our list of potential "emergencies" (loosely defined, I suppose, as unexpected thing that costs over a grand) and rough max associated costs looks something like this:
-I lose my job (unlikely, 5k cost)
-Slow month for GF's business (very likely and fairly predictable, $2k cost)
-Client bad about paying (medium likeliness, $2k cost)
-Need to spend on unplanned business travel (very likely, max $5k cost)
-major car problem (unlikely, $1k)
-car dead, need new car (unlikely, $3k)
-major dog emergency (unlikely, $1k)
-house burns down (very unlikely, $10k deductible)
-acute unexpected health problem (unlikely, $5k deductible)
Last year we had a bit of a liquidity crunch when a bunch of things happened at once. GF had a slow month, AND a client that was bad about paying, AND had to drop 4k on upcoming work travel, AND our old car's engine gave out, all pretty much at once. Our "emergency fund" at the time was not sufficient, so that happening has resulted in me taking this thought process more specifically and less abstractly. Now we hold onto enough to weather any reasonably possible storm, and amusingly high credit limit credit cards to supplement in case we crash our car while driving home from the vet to see our house burning down while GF is on the phone with a client that wants her to fly across the planet, and the next day I break my leg and get fired from my job. And that helps me sleep at night.
But you rent, don't use your car frequently, don't have dogs or kids, and have Canadian healthcare. So your situation almost certainly has less of a need for a big emergency fund than I do. It sounds like job loss is the main thing you need to insure against. Walk through that happening and see where it takes you.