As the Ontario provincial election rapidly approaches, the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) will host “Ontario Election 2018: 3-Party Electoral Conversation”, on Thursday, May 3, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at Ryerson Auditorium L1B 72.
With campaign rhetoric reaching fever pitch among the three major parties, CEMA has created an opportunity for the province’s multicultural and multilingual communities to ensure issues of relevant interest and concern are heard and addressed before Election Day, June 7.
All three major Ontario political parties — the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats — will send representatives to participate in the conversation, which will assume a less formal format than a traditional debate.
Each party representative will be given eight minutes to present their platforms, and to challenge that of their competitors. This will be followed by a Q & A that will last 45 minutes.
The exchanges promise to be lively and less constrained than those of traditional debates, and will rely heavily on the input of community media and voters in attendance.
CEMA has partnered with several major organizations to expand and enrich the evening’s experience for the media and public.
The groups include: Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, Canadian Race Relations Foundation, Association of Macedonian Students at University of Toronto, and the Canadian Ethnocultural Council.
Each has generously offered to publicize the event to their respective memberships and contacts.
CEMA’s goal is to facilitate vigorous discussion among the party representatives, media and the public, allowing voters to feel their voices have been heard, and enabling them to make informed decisions when they enter the polling stations on Election Day, June 7.
All issues matter to all Ontario voters, whether it is universal pharma-care or dental care, childcare or elder care. And it is hoped that the province’s ethnic communities will have had the added advantage of contextualizing these important matters, as well as many others within the cultural and socio-economic situations most relevant to them.
Ryerson Auditorium L1B 72 is located near the Student Learning Centre at 350 Victoria Street, at the corner of Gould and Victoria Streets.
