CEMA held yet another successful season’s dinner at which Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty (see picture on right below) stressed the importance of the organization’s role in bringing together the most important ethnic media in the country under one umbrella.
What he left untouched though was picked up by Michael Prue, the NDP Member of the Provincial Parliament from the Beaches (see picture at left below), who slammed the unfair taxation imposed by Ontario that is hurting the ethnic print media. He promised his party’s support to have this removed and in fact a day later made good on his promise by raising this in the provincial legislature. For details on the unfair taxation CLICK HEREand read about how law firm Fasken Martineau is helping ethnic media form a coalition to fight and remove this taxation that is party based on whether a publication stapled or bound! Go figure!
Also in attendance was John Tory, leader of the Ontario Conservative Party,a fixture at CEMA events and a strong support of both the ethnic media and multiculturalism. He even obliged a dinner guest bidding on an OC DVD collection with paraphernalia for their teenage daughter by promising not to up his bid. Thanks, John!
While scores of items were auctioned off, the grand winner of the door prize was Alberto Cencetti, VP Sales at the Metro Media Group that handlesradio, TV and online advertising for several ethnic and mainstream shows. He won a TV andis seen expressing his joy in the adjacent picture with Magda de la Torre, a staunch supporter of diversity who is pushing to have ethnic music and song made mandatory for mainstream broadcasters, and included in Canadian Content or CanCon.
Introducing the special guests was CEMA president Ben Viccari who has announced that this will be his last dinner as president. Ben’s latest documentary, the M Word — a one-hour special on multiculturalism, aired on OMNI-TV on Dec. 1, 2007.
The final verdict on the evening was that once again, CEMA Board member and Events Chair Bill Yankoff had pulled off another super organizing job. Thanks from all of us Bill!
Clockwise from top left, Madeline Ziniak with the Romanian Radio-TV band (see their website atwww.noiromanii.com), Paritosh Mehta leading revellers and webmaster Zuhir Kashmeri talking to guests Abby and Tony Sabherwal of Toronto’s Magic Oven chain of restaurants.
