Canadian Ethnic Media Association

Report by Frank Ruffolo

The Canadian Ethnic Media Association and the the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) held a highly informative and successful seminar-workshop on October 23 at the Columbus Centre on “Eliminating injuries and fatalities in Ontario’s Workplaces.”

Keynote speaker, the Honourable Steven Mahoney, former MP, MPP and Ontario government minister and Chair of the WSIB, told CEMA members and other ethnic media participants that the aptly named Road to Zero campaign with a capacity to deliver its message in sixty languages, plans “to change the culture and make people understand the impact of work related illness and injuries with a hard hitting television ad campaign.”

Mahoney said, “101 people were killed in Ontario workplace incidents in 2006 making it two deaths every week; 10 of the dead were young people under the age of 25, from high schools andHe added that there were also 231 occupational disease deaths last year. In all, “there were a total of 357,000 claims in Ontario alone.” As of August 2007 Mahoney says, “there were over 80 work related deaths.” The annual impact from work related illness and injuries is $15 billiona year in Ontario. (more…)

Say NO to unfair taxation!

By Dat Nguyen

Publisher, Thoi Bao Newspaper, and CEMA Director

Community newspapers are the lifeblood of Canada. They present hometown news no one else will publish. They reach out to 5.8 million Ontarians, including many new immigrants who first learn about their city and province through newspapers published in their own language.

But in Ontario today, many community newspapers are under attack by a regulatory loophole that is unfair to many publishers.

Ontario charges 8% provincial sales tax (PST) on most retail goods. Under the Retail Sales Tax Act, newspapers are included in the examples of the most common goods that are not taxable. Because of the key role they play in society, Ontario exempt newspapers from PST. They don’t pay PST for their supplies such as printing.

But in its attempts to tighten up tax laws, the Ontario government has defined many local newspapers as magazines which are taxable publications. That basically increases their costs by 8%. (more…)

By Jon Brazeau

December may be cold, but Canadian Multicultural Hockey (CMHL) Inc. is looking to heat up arenas with the third annual Canadian Multicultural Hockey Championships.Over 30 teams are expected to participate in the mens and womens tournaments, taking place from Dec. 27 to 30, making this years championships bigger than ever.

As in 2005 and 2006, Canadian Ethnic Media Associaton (CEMA) is one of the sponsorsof the league.

Also for the first time, all games will be played across Toronto at four different arenas:

• North York Centennial (Herb Carnegie) – (North End),
• Weston Lions Arena (West End),
• Scarborough Centennial (East End), and
• Ted Reeve Arena (South End).

An estimated 15,000 combined spectators witnessed last years tournament.

(more…)