Meeting Minutes - May 08, 2006

Minutes of the monthly meeting held at Queen's Park on May 08, 2006 Present: Thomas Saras Sremal Abeyawardene Clyde McNeil Hassan Zerehi Dr. Bikram Lamba Saeed Soltanpour Alidad Mafinezam Tania Nuttall Iraj Emad Taha Hassaniani Fred Pountaheri Trifon Haitas Irene Keroglides Massood Mashadi Antony Joseph Hassan Zerehi Neel Nanda Teshome Woldeamanuel Ahmade Shah Hotaki John Saraidaris Maryam Aghvani Hermie Garcia Mila Garcia Dumitru Popescu Ned Blair Emily Mills Emmanuel Ayiku Rahim Moton Elvira Samaylenko Luba Cherny Aris Babikian   Absent Kenrick Bobb Elizabeth Wolski Mona Feng   Special Guests: Dr. Marie Bountrogianni- Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal, Government of Ontario   Agenda: 1. Opening Remarks by the Chair 2. Minutes of the previous meeting. 3. Presentation by Hon: Dr. Marie Bountrogianni- Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal, Government of Ontario 4. Report of the President 5. End of meeting   Opening Remarks by the Chair: The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting   Minutes of the previous meeting: Dr Lamba moved a motion to approve the minutes of the monthly meeting held on April 10, 2006. Masood Manzoorzadeh seconded it. The motion was carried.   Presentation by Hon: Dr. Marie Bountrogianni- Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal, Government of Ontario Thomas Saras, William –Doyle Marshall, Dr. Lamba, Srimal Abeyewardene, Adnan Hashmi, Clyde McNeil, and other members participated in the discussion. The following is the summary of the presentations and discussions. - Fiscal imbalance is a fancy way of saying that the federal government has more money than it needs to meet its responsibilities, for things like immigration and foreign affairs, while the provinces and territories do not have enough money to fulfill their responsibilities, for big ticket items like health care, education, and municipal services. - The fiscal imbalance undermines the ability of Ontario to invest in the health and vitality of the people. It presents a constant challenge for provinces to deliver important public services. - Minister to develop a solution that will benefit all Canadians. - The federal government has just put out a discussion paper on this issue and will be consulting with Canadians and governments across the country over the course of the summer. NEPMCC was encouraged to engage in this dialogue, since it is essential that the voice of the ethnic media be heard. - While the country's fiscal arrangements affect all provinces and territories, they are especially detrimental for Ontario. - There are needs in other provinces and every year, taxpayers in Ontario send billions of dollars to other provinces to help fund their schools and hospitals. Ontario is proud to support these services. Determining the need of the people in Ontario, the provincial government wants to make sure it supports people in the province - Every year, Ontario receives 140,000 new immigrants – over the half theCanadian total. It is essential for Ontario to retain it’s own resources so that each and every person who comes here has an opportunity to make a good life for them and their family. - The Government of Ontario is committed in doing everything it can to support immigrants, whether they arrived in Ontario 200 years ago or 200 days ago. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, as Ontarians have been treated inequitably when it comes to receiving funds from most federal programs. - Ontario currently receives $86 less per person to support health care and post-secondary education and other programs than provinces that receive equalization. This means there are, in effect, two equalization programs – one that is visible to everyone, and one that’s hidden. This is unfair and it must stop. All Canadians must be treated equally. - The Government of Ontario wants the federal government to treat all Canadians equally. - Canadians living in Ontario currently put $4.7 billion into the equalization program. That contribution has grown 30 per cent over the past four years, and is scheduled to grow at 3.5 per cent a year into the future – regardless of what happens to the economy. - There is no evidence the current size of the Equalization program along with the already agreed  upon growth, is insufficient to meet the constitutional principle. To suggest that the province is not doing its part to support other regions of the country does a disservice to the Ontario taxpayers who continue to pay into the program to support their fellow Canadians. - There is simply no principle-based rationale to ask Canadians who live in Ontario to send more to other provinces, when we have such pressing needs here in Ontario. The old notion that if there is a problem in the country you can just take more money from Ontario taxpayers and ship it to other parts of the country is no longer viable. - It is not that Ontario has had a change of heart, but Ontario, Canada, and the world are vastly different places than when we put in place our fiscal arrangements. - The old model was meant to create fairness across the country by redistributing wealth generated from the have-provinces. This model is now actually creating more unfairness than it is alleviating, and Canadians who live in Ontario are experiencing this in a real way. - The bottom line is that federal transfers outside equalization – including transfers for health, education, and infrastructure – should treat all Canadians equally. And that all provinces need a greater share of resources to invest in their future prosperity. - The Province of Ontario is looking forward to working with federal, provincial, and territorial partners to build a national consensus on measures to address the fiscal imbalance. - The Government of Ontario is committed to finding solutions to the fiscal imbalance that are worth for all Canadians, including those living in Ontario.   Thomas Saras and the Chair of the meeting Clyde McNeil thanked the honourable minister for her time and hoped for future dialogue with the minister   Report of the President/ Business Discussions. - Thomas Saras informed the council that his office has engaged the PMO in dealing with Public Works regarding distribution of Government ads in ethnic publications. - The Prime Minister will soon appoint a national commission in consultation with the ethnic media that will look into the distribution of Government advertising. - Motion: Dr. Lamba moved a motion seconded by Masood Manzoorzadeh, that would authorize the President to take over the committee which deals with the Government affairs due to inaction and absence of the committee members. The motion was carried. - The President invited all members for dinner at Palace Restaurant on May 12. Liberal leader Joe Volpe and Jim Karrigannis would be present in the gathering. - Iraj Emad and Maryam Aghvani informed the Council on the vigil for the imprisoned Canadian-Iranian Scholar Ramin Jahanbegloo that would take place on May 14 - The Council would draft a statement in support of the call to release the imprisoned Scholar in Iran. - Mila Garcia would re-send the draft statement with regards to the killings and the treatment of journalists in the Philippines. - Thomas Saras informed the council that United Nations is organizing a conference on Democracy and Good Governance under the auspices of the University for Peace and that the NEPMCC is one of the principals affiliated with this institution of the UN. The president of the organization will seat in the board of the institution. Thomas S. Saras said that he is looking to send three or four members to attend this institution hoping that eventually they will become leaders for democratic renewal in their country of origin. - Anthony Joseph made a presentation on organizing a Canada Day parade in 2007 in partnership with the NEPMCC. Srimal Abeyawardene moved a motion seconded by Irene Keroglidis asking Anthony Joseph to submit a written proposal and council would look into it for any possible partnership. End of Meeting: Maryam Aghvani moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Hassan Zerehi seconded it. It was carried by all. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:45 p.m. The next meeting would take place on June 12, 2006 at Queen’s Park.