Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on April 11, 2011 at Queen’s Park. Toronto On .

 

Present:

Thomas S. Saras

Aaron Berhane

Ahmed Hotaki

Asha Rajak

Bahram Bahrami

C. Senthi

Charles Devasagayam

Dumitru Popescu

Emmanuel Ayiku

Hai-Tien Lin

Hermie Garcia

Iosif Spataru

J. Saraidaris

John Saraidaris

K. David Lim

Kevin Wang

Khan Khoda

Logan Logendralingam

Luba Cherny

Marek J.D. Goldyn

Mario Spataru

Mark J. Goldyn

Mehmet Olauli

Mila Garcia

Mohamed Tajdolati

Mohammad Bagher Samimi

Mohammad Tajdolati

Mulugeta Zergaber

Muse Kulow

Ned Blair

Neel Nanda

Parry Long

Peter Galiatsos

R. David Lim

Ranjit Wics

Romeo Marquez

Saad Alsafar

Srimal Abeyawardene

Suleyman Guven

Sultan Ali Shambali

Syleyman Guven

Tanas Jovanovski

Viara Dimitrova

William Doyle-Marshall

 

Agenda

1.      Welcome Remarks by the chair.

2.      Minutes of the previous meeting.

3.      Presentation by Gerard Kennedy- Member of Parliament , Parkdale –High Park

4.      Presidents Report

5.      New Business

6.      Adjournment

 

 

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

 

Thomas Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. William Doyle Marshall moved a motion to approve the agenda. Srimal Abyewardene seconded it. The motion was carried.

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Srimal Abeyawardene moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on March 14 2011 Mareck J Goldyn seconded  it.  The motion was carried.

 

President’s Report/Discussions:

 

·         Thomas Saras thanked all the members for attending the meeting.

·         NEPMCC had submitted a proposal on the socio economic survey of the ethnic media.

·         President Thomas Saras spoke about the work claimed to be done by a consultant towards the proposal of the economic survey submitted to the Federal Government

·         President Thomas Saras informed that the proposed economic survey submitted earlier to the Federal Government is in the final steps.  This project is going to enrich our powers.  We have to demonstrate the power of ethnic media through the survey. He informed the members the proposed funding for the economic survey has been approved by the ministry and a tentative agreement has been signed by the Federal Government and NEPMCC on March 31,2011

·         President urged the members to cooperate and respond to the economic survey undertaken by NEPMCC as it was in their own interest to participate.

·         The project will be conducted in liaison with Seneca College, school of business.

·         The office of the President will send the questionnaire via email.  The office of the President will also mail the hard copy of the questionnaire to all the members. Students will also individually call members of the ethnic media publications who did not respond earlier either by electronically or by filling the hard copy. President urged members to participate in the survey.

·         Mila Garcia suggested in cooperating with the faculty of Seneca College while the drafting of questionnaire so that the right questions are designed for the survey.

·         NEPMCC will seek to conduct a national seminar based on the findings of the survey.

·          President is working with the Federal Government on a proposal submitted earlier for 2011-2012.

·         Effective from the month of September, we are going to start planning second phase of the educational seminar. We are going to hold this seminar in 2012, since there are various processes involved in applying for funds and preparation and we also need enough time for the preparation

·         The office of the President approached various ministries for receiving fund for the awards ceremony.

·         President Thomas Saras encouraged the suggestion of an artistic NEPMCC pin to be distributed during various events organized and hosted by NEPMCC.

·         President suggested to organize a two day workshop in City Hall dealing with training of application for PAP

·         President Thomas Saras mentioned a professional Information Technology Company will maintain the website of NEPMCC making it highly interactive and user friendly.

·         This year NEPMCC is organizing the annual ethnic press festival Exhibition from May 9 – May 16 at the rotunda of City Hall. The exhibition will probably be opened by Premiere Daltion McGuinty on May 9, 2011. Invitation has also been sent to Mayor Rob Ford. The opening ceremony of the exhibition will also feature a host of dignitaries and officials from all three levels of Government. There will a reception on the opening day after the speeches where variety of food and wine will be served to guests.  The President asked members to submit three best issues of their publication for the festival.  A three member panel chaired by Dr. Tajdolati will judge the publications for awards in various categories. If funds are available in future besides the Toronto City Hall, we will also move this exhibition to Quebec, B.C. and Montreal in the coming years

·         President Thomas Saras mentioned that when we are deciding on an award we are recognizing a publication due to their attendance and for their commitment in supporting the organization by working hard for the cause of the ethnic media and the council.

·         NEPMCC Awards. In October we will organize our Awards ceremony. Effective from January 1st until 31st of May 2011, members can download nomination forms from our website and submit names of members they propose from their community, media or organization who they think are eligible for recognition or to receive the NEPMCC Awards. Forms are available online. For the awards, we are planning to reach various Ministries to sponsor awards for each award recipient and category. This process is open for the submission now. Members were asked to send the completed nomination form to either Dr. Tajdolati or to the office of the President. .

·         Canada Day celebration will take place on July 2nd. President will notify the members of the special guest for the event.

·         Annual get-together is slated to take place on December 16, 2011.

·         Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). This year we have requested for space on international pavilion where we can display exhibition of the ethnic press for the eighteen days. Members were urged to ask their local business to sponsor some prizes which is going to be announced through lucky draw for the people who visit our pavilion. (August 18- September 2,) There may be prizes for the draw. Srimal Abeyawarden  suggested of advanced publicity for the event.

·         Word on the Street. Besides Toronto, this year we are going also to organize this exhibition in Vancouver on the same day with Toronto.

·         Ned Blair suggested if members could give donation to the council.

·         There may be a roundtable discussion with the Prime Minister in April or May

·         President read out a letter from Hon Sophia Aggelnotis Ontario Minsiter of Revenue.

 

   

 

Thomas Saras welcomed Gerrard Kennedy to the council and invited him to address the floor. Than

 

Remarks for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada

April 11, 2011

By

Hon Gerard Kennedy, MP

“Thank you very much for the invitation. I hope we can have a good discussion on Canada today. We in the Liberal Party do not believe that stimulus should be taken away from the economy. Corporate Tax cuts have not resulted in job growth in the last 5 years. The focus is on education. The challenge in Canada today is a federal Government for some Canadians or every Canadian. We have an election for the first time for contempt of Parliament. This Government has not ratified the charter of rights. If this election proves to be another trip to the bazaar then no matter who wins we will lose. Why wasn’t there a debate in the country when Freedom was being given out in the guise of safety? This government wants to build more prison than keeping people safer and preventing the crime and property. We have to defend the charter of rights. I talked about Canada is the first international country. What if somebody who was born outside the country does it make them less Canadian. So what if Mr. Ignatieff spent a few years successfully overseas is he any less Canadian?

Below are some of the issues raised by Gerard Kennedy – Liberal Candidate for Parkdale- High Park

  • For jobs: Stop excessive corporate tax cuts and make better choices that will support our economic security.

  • For our students and our seniors: A Learning Passport that provides $1000 towards college or university for each student for every year they complete in high school. A 10% increase for seniors on GIS, and better pensions for all retirees.

  • For our families: No increased taxes, a National Childcare Fund and a Family Care Plan for families with seriously ill parents or children.

  • For our community: Make public health care sustainable; action on the environment; keep gun control to help save lives.

  • For a better politics that gets things done: An end to the politics of negative attacks and division – open government, wide public engagement, new means to drive consensus and more independence for individual MPs.

 

 

 

Mario, William Doyle Marshall, Suleiman Guven, Mareck J Goldyn, Ahmed Shah Hotaki, Muse Kulew, Janus Raudkavi, Srimal Abyeawardene, Aaron Behrame and President Thomas Saras and other members participated in the discussion.

A wide variety of topics were intensely discussed such as

·         Transition of the Liberal Party while being in the opposition.

·         Government spending billions in defence purchases

·         Liberal Platform for Federal Election

·         Future of Canadian families.

·         Early learning strategy for families with young children.

·         Supplementary Pension Plan.

·         Investment in clean energy

·         Investments in infrastructure

·         Effects of federal government cuts on settlement services

·         Canada as a globally networked country.

·         Liberal representation of Canadian society in politics/government

·         Liberal foreign policy

·         Liberal Poverty Reduction Policy.

·         Canada as an agent of fairness.

·         The need to deliver results in politcs

 

.

New Business:

Mareck J.D. Goldyn announced an event celebrating the 21st anniversary of European Day.

.

 

 

 Adjournment: Suleiman Guven moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, Dr. Khan Khoda seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair adjourned the meeting at 10:30 pm. The next meeting would take place on May 16, 2011