Meeting Minutes - Jun. 11, 2007

Minutes of the monthly meeting held at Queen's Park on June 11, 2007 Present: Thomas Saras (Regrets –Medical attention at Toronto General Hospital) Sremal Abeyawardene Clyde McNeil Neel Nanda Maryam Aghvami Dr. Bikram Lamba Ahmed Shah Hotaki Mona Feng Irene, Keroglidis Dumitru Popescu Emmanuel Ayiku Iraj Emad Saud Soultanpour Niaz Salimi Trifon Haitas Teshome Woldeamanuel Tanas Jovanovski Josivaldo Rodrigues Amir Mahim Luba Cherny Longendialigan, Nage Saraidaris, John Suku, Balasubramaniam K. Arasaratnam Ned Blair Mohammad, Tajdolati, Dr. Kathy Lin Hai Tien Lin Katayun, Pujirun Abdul Rahim Motom Danielle, Zhu Syed, Narvi Alamgir, Hussein K. Davis Lim Mahesh Abeyewardene Massood Mashadi Cindy Gu Aaron Behrane   Regrets: Thomas S. Saras Ned Blair Hassan Zerehi Sarah Zerehi   Agenda: 1. Opening Remarks by the Chair 2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. 3. Presentation by Hon. Gerry Phillips, Minister of Government services, Ontario. 4. Presentation by Multi Faith Coalition. 5. Presentation by John Tory, Leader Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario/ Discussions 6. End of meeting   Opening Remarks by the Chair: Dr. Lamba initially chaired the meeting in the absence of the regular moderator of meetings. He informed the council that the President of NEPMCC would not be attending the meeting due to a medical emergency for which he was admitted to the Toronto General Hospital.   Minutes of the previous meeting: The minutes of the previous meeting was emailed to the members and posted on the official website of NEPMCC. There were no hard copies of the minutes and a result it was decided to go over it in the next meeting   Presentation by Hon: Gerry Phillips, Hon: Gerry Phillips made his presentation on various government programs and policies followed by various discussions. Srimal Abeyawardene, Trifon Haitas, Dr.Lamba, and other members participated in the discussions.   The highlights of the presentation and discussions are as follows. -Success for Students: The government of Ontario is committed to all levels of education. Student success in the early grades is laying the foundation for higher achievements, while excellence in post-secondary education is creating a new generation of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs that will give Ontario an edge. -Better Health: A solid health care system is crucial and more doctors and nurses in our system means all Ontarians will have better access to health care and healthier lives. -Strong People, Strong Economy: The government of Ontario is focused on strengthening Ontario by building a stronger economy and making new investments that will increase opportunities in our communities. -Wait times for radiation treatment are down more than a week - about 16 per cent. -Fought on behalf of new Canadians, negotiating the first ever Canada- Ontario immigration agreement, which quadruples federal spending on language training and settlement services over the next five years, from $819 per immigrant to $3,400 per immigrant. -$20 million for 35 bridge training projects to help internationally trained professionals improve language skills, prepare for exams and get work in their field -Launched www.OntarioImmigration.ca to help newcomers and potential newcomers obtain information -$130 million annually in newcomers services and programs; we are spending twice what the previous government did to help newcomers succeed -Doubled the number of training and assessment positions for internationally trained medical graduates: in the past two years, more doctors' certificates have been issued to international medical graduates than to Ontario graduates. -Introduced a proposed acceleration of our plan to eliminate the capital tax -In 2004-05, the deficit was reduced to $1.4 billion - down from $5.5 billion -New initiative, Move Ontario, announced in 2006 Budget, puts $1.2 billion into transit and road and bridge projects The Minister also discussed the challenges facing the province of Ontario -The Government of Ontario are committed to cleaner, renewable sources of energy having procured over 1,300 megawatts of wind, water and biomass electricity generation -Set a target to produce 5% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2007 and ten per cent by 2010, putting Ontario at the forefront in North America -The legislature recently passed Bill 21 -- The Energy Conservation Responsibility Act - the first of its kind in Canada -Invested more in community organizations to help deliver services to various ethnic communities. The provincial grants were delivered to community groups with the idea of improving the cultural infrastructure in the province. Dr.Lamba, the Ombudsman of NEPMCC thanked the Hon Minister for sharing his time with the NEPMCC to discuss issues facing the people of Ontario.   Presentations by Multi Faith Coalition Aaron Blumenfeld, Pandit Roopnauth Sharma and other members of Ontario based Multi Faith Coalition made a presentation to NEPMCC followed by discussions. Dr.Lamba, Trifon Haitas and other members of NEPMCC participated in the discussions.   The following are the highlights of the presentation and discussions -The MFC, founded in 2002, consists of representation from Armenian Orthodox Schools, Coptic Orthodox Schools, Evangelical Christian Schools, Greek Orthodox Day School, Hindu School, Islamic Schools, Sikh (Khalsa) School, Ontario Association of Jewish Day Schools, Seventh Day Adventist Schools, and Mennonite Schools who are currently victims of religious discrimination in the funding of education in Ontario -93% of the children attending religious schools in Ontario are already fully funded by the Ontario Government -The other 7% get nothing, solely because they are not Catholic -There is nothing legally preventing the Ontario Government from extending equal funding to all children -The UN has ruled that the current discrimination violates international human rights law, and the government has an obligation under this law to fix it The chair thanked the delegation for their presentation. Dr Lamba on behalf of the NEPMCC made the position of NEPMCC clear to the visiting delegation regarding supporting their objectives.   Presentation by John Tory- Leader, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario:   John Tory made a presentation on his party's vision for a better Ontario, followed by discussions. Dr. Lamba, Srimal Abeyawardene, Alamgir Hussain, Trifon Haitas, Iraj Emad and other members participated in the discussions. John Tory also handed the information package The following are the highlights of the presentations and discussions: Ontarians want diverse communities where the streets are safe. Where there’s better access to publicly funded health care. Where public schools open doors and open minds. Where arts and culture thrive. Where there’s compassion and support for the most vulnerable citizens of our society. And where young people find opportunities closer to home. These are John Tory’s priorities for Ontario’s communities. -Better planning for better health care -Investing in public education -Making communities safer. -Fighting poverty -Helping municipalities succeed. -Promoting arts and culture in Ontario. -Fairness for taxpayers. -Fair property taxes. -Fairness for farmers The government of Ontario is taxing more and spending more -- but who's asking what Ontarians are getting for their hard-earned money? John Tory will ask – and he will act. It's time for the government to follow some basic rules of accountability: that means truth in taxes; an end to the Liberals' secret political slush funds; and ensuring that no one is above the law – or beneath its protection. -Accountable, transparent government -Truth in taxes -Services and jobs – closer to home -One law for everyone. -Jobs for today and tomorrow. -Strengthening post-secondary education. -Welcoming skilled immigrants. -A cleaner environment. -Building a clean energy system. -Infrastructure for Ontario's future.   The chair thanked Hon:John Tory for his presentation and welcomed him for future meetings. John Tory thanked NEPMCC for inviting him to make presentation on the PC plan for a better Ontario.   President's Report/Discussions   Motion: Dr.Lamba proposed a motion to suspend the President's Report till the next monthly meeting. Syed Naqvi seconded the motion and was carried by all. -The time and location of the Prime Minister’s roundtable discussions with NEPMCC would be communicated to all members before June 15, which is the confirmed date of the meeting. -Dr.Lamba informed the council that the nomination process for the annual awards has already begun and that July 31 is the last date of nomination. No nomination will be accepted after that date.   End of Meeting: Iraj Emad moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Dr. Lamba seconded it. It was carried by all. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting would take place on July 9,2007 at Queens Park.