Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on March 09, 2015, at Committee Room No 2, City Hall

Present:

Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Tatyana Fursenko
Jacques varbedian
Suleyman Guven
Ricky Castellvi
Ishan Ghazarian
Adu Raudkavi
Peter Galiatsos
Maricelle Delgado Parrenas
Rakhie Prabhakar
Sandeep Prabakar
Paul Nguyen
Teshome Worldeamanuel
Michael Shiravand
Andre Mazurece
Mulgeta Zergaber
Balan A. Samlan
Hassan Zerehi
Behrang Rabbari
Onik Nazamani
Raffi Der Boghossian
Mohammad Tajdodlati
Janusz Niemczyk
Margaret Boukaska
C. Senthi
Muhammed Enad
Tharmasrirajam
Sumanthy
Aaron Berhane
Kathy L. Lin
John Saraidaris
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Ned Blair
Luba Cherny
Ahmed Hotaki
Julius M
Luis Apabilio
Paulraj- Kathir Oli
Alexandre Franco
Parry  Long
Samy Ramachanden
Jurn Klufas
Punhanai Raman.
Khan Khoda, Dr.
Ishkhan Ghazarian
Luije Aparicio
Paula McKeygei
Srimal Abeyewardene
John Saraidaris
Muhammed Enad
Charles deva
Pudhuai Raman
Venthan Ramang
Hermie Garcia
Mila Garcia.
Mujibor Rahman
Dumitru Poposcu
Mehmet Onayli
Suhan Ali Shunbill
Tharmasri Rajan
Susan Donan
Saad Alsafar
Ahmed Hotaki
Hai-Tien Lin
Nagamany Legendrinligan
Ahilakuwaran Multhukymaracamey
Luba Cherny
Srimal Abewardene
Logan Logendraliugan

Agenda

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:
Dr. Tajdolati moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting Maria Saras-Voutsinas seconded it.  The motion was carried.

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.

Technical Briefing by Toronto City Staff on the recommended operating and Capital Budget Plan 2015
Josie La Vita, Executive Director of Toronto’s financial planning led a presentation by city staff on the recommended operating budget for 2015. The highlights of her presentation is as follows

Overview of Toronto’s 2015 recommended Budget highlights
Delivers significant service improvements in key priority areas
Transit
Poverty Reduction
Public Safety & Wellness
$12 million to operate new or expanded facilities.
Maintains City’s fiscal health
No use of City’s surplus for 3rd year
Tax increase contained to inflation levels or less
Continues to fund the Scarborough Subway
Invests $79 million in new and enhanced programs, services and facilities in key priority areas.
President Thomas Saras thanked the financial planning committee for the City of Toronto for their presentation to the council. He then invited Toronto Mayor John Tory to address the members of NEPMCC

Presentation by John Tory.
Mayor John Tory, made a brief remark on the operating budget of 2015. He mentioned that budget is a balancing act to meet the needs of the city. Huge investment is being made in key priority areas to keep the city moving forward. He thanked all the staff for their hard work in preparing a budget right for Toronto towards its goal in achieving One Toronto. He then invited councilor Gary Crawford for his remarks to NEPMCC

Councillor Gary Crawford made a brief presentation and began his remarks by acknowledging that he is proud at the work that Mayor Tory is doing and what he has achieved in the first 100 days in his office.
There was a question and answer period following the presentations.
Margaret, Raffi Boghossian, Suleiman Guven, Janus Raudkavi, Michael, Aaron and other members participated in the roundtable discussions.
Questions on wide variety of issues such as public transit, housing, seniors, accessibility, poverty elimination, diversity and policing were raised by the members.

Mayor John Tory and councilor Gary Crawford candidly answered the questions raised by the members of NEPMCC.

President Thomas Saras thanked Mayor John Tory and Councillor Gary Crawford for their presentations. President Saras on behalf of the members of NEPMCC thanked and acknowledged Mayor John Tory for bringing a remarkable change to City Hall in his first 100 days in office.

Following the presentations and roundtable discussions there was picture taking opportunity with the Mayor and Councillor.

New Business -General Elections:
President Thomas Saras informed the members that election committee headed by Dr. Tajdolati has approved the new board of directors after careful review. He mentioned most of the previous directors have been retained with only minor additions.
The council unanimously approved the new board of directors of NEPMCC for another 2 years lead by President and CEO Thomas Saras.
Speaking to attending members the president made it clear that he cannot continue forever to lead the organization as his age is not permitting him anymore to continue working 16 to 18 hours per day, seven days per week. He promised to do his best for the upcoming two years committed himself in the service of the members but at the same time asked for anyone who thinks he has the time, the energy and the enthusiasm to come forward in order to be trained by the present administration.
The New Board for the period of March 2015, to March 2017 will be:The Board.