Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on February 09, 2015
at Committee Room No 4, City Hall

Present:

Agenda

• Welcome Remarks by the chair.
• Minutes of the previous meeting
• Report of the President.
• Roundtable with Hon. Thomas  Mulcair Leader of  the New Democratic Party and the Official Opposition
• New Business
• Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Mr. Thomas Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Dr Tajdolati moved a motion to approve the agenda. Maria Saras- Voutsinas seconded it. The motion was carried

Minutes of the previous meeting:

President’s Report/Discussions:

• President Thomas Saras announced this year the ethnic press festival will take place on the week of May 3- May 10 with the opening ceremony taking place on Monday May 4 at the rotunda of City Hall. Members were urged to submit their copies of publications for display during the exhibition at City Hall.
• President Thomas Saras reminded the members on the deadline for applying for the Canada Magazine fund by Heritage Canada.
• The President informed the members that some applications for funding have been rejected as the said publications were not clearly indicating about the writers of their articles. To this context the President suggested the need for a special information session for all members in cooperation with the Canadian Heritage in order to get more clarity on Government programs.
• President Thomas Saras like in the previous monthly meetings urged those members to pay their annual membership who have not yet paid their annual membership fee to renew their membership with the organization. NEPMCC has a lot of projects waiting in 2015 for the benefit of ethnic media industry and all projects have cost associated with them. Many members have benefited being a part of NEPMCC and paying membership fees in a timely manner is a duty of all members. President Thomas Saras informed that many members are still to renew their membership with NEPMCC.

Roundtable with Hon. Thomas Mulcair Leader of the New Democratic Party and the Official Opposition.

President Thomas Saras introduced the leader and asked him to address the council. He was accompanied by delegation of NDP MPs- Hon Andrew Cash Hon. Matthew Kellway, Hon. Rathika Sitsabaiesan and Hon. Craig Scott
The Leader of NDP began his address by mentioning that “Toronto is the most diverse city in the Western World”
He mentioned that thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost in Canada in the last few years.
Mulcair highlighted, as part of the NDP agenda, issues sensitive to GTA communities identifying the creation of middle class jobs through small and medium size businesses, the implementation of a federal minimum wage at $15 per hour and the creation of affordable high-quality childcare –
Every community in this room is a priority for us that’s why we hold meetings like this to be able to hear you and your concerns and integrate them into our platform and policies,” Mulcair said. “The number one cause of poverty among new arrivals to Canada is failure to recognize their credentials, their diplomas and their experience,” Mulcair said.
“Sometimes employers say they refuse you because you don’t have Canadian experience which is another way of saying you are not getting the job because you were not born in Canada your your credentials come from somewhere else.” If elected later this year Mulcair said he will not only assign an immigrant minister, but someone specifically tasked to deal with recognition of foreign credentials enabling them to better work with provinces to find better concrete solutions. -
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He mentioned that 80% of new jobs are created by small businesses. “We will create more incentives to invest faster. We will have an innovation tax credit. The purpose is to create good middle class jobs”.
He then opened the floor for questions. He candidly answered questions on a wide variety of topics ranging from immigration, job creation, national security, economy, environment, taxation, government advertising in ethnic media and rising inequality.
Peter. Janus, Dr. Tajdolati, Rakhee Prabhakar, Srimal Abeyawardene, Raffi Boghossian, Logan L, Isa Melo, Mereck Goodyn, Margaret and other members participated in the roundtable discussions and raised important issues facing their communities and the country.
MP Andrew Cash, MP Rathika Sitsabaeian, MP Matthew Kellway and MP Craig Scott also actively participated in the roundtable discussions and shared their perspectives with the members.
Councillor Jim Karygiannis also participated in the roundtable discussion.
President Thomas Saras thanked NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and the delegation of Members of Parliament and hoped there would be consistent dialogue in the future.
Tom Mulcair promised on the consistent dialogue with the ethnic media as he felt it is crucial for the betterment of Canada.
Following the roundtable meeting there were presentations and picture opportunity with the NDP leader.

New Business

General Elections: President Thomas Saras reminded the members interested in running for office in NEPMCC to submit their nominations which would be forwarded to the elections committee headed by Dr. Tajdolati. He urged only members with time and passion for the organization should submit their names as needs serious commitment during the entire tenure of the elected office. He hoped the new officers elected would show renewed enthusiasm and hard work.
There were lot of discussions on the general elections and some embers asked on the procedure for participation. The President of NEPMCC clarified that there are clear guidelines in the constitution of NEPMCC which is easily available in the website.
Many members thanked President Thomas Saras for his tireless and selfless dedication as well as strong leadership for the voice of the ethnic media industry in Canada.

Adjournment:

 Mohammad Tajdolati moved a motion to adjourn the meeting Srimal Abeyawardene seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair President Thomas Saras adjourned the meeting at 10:00 pm. The next monthly meeting would take place on February 09, 2015 at City Hall, committee room #2.