The Nigerian Community Leaders, which is a very large community in Ontario with 50,000 eligible voters met Ernie Eves Premier of Ontario at the Legislative Building, Committee Room 2, Queen's Park today. The reception was arranged by Mr. Emmanuel Akinwumi and Mr. Ayodeji Alabi with the help of Dr. George K. Lewis, the President Universities123, and Harpal Dhaliwal, the Vice President Univ
ersities123 in Port Colborne, Canada, and Mr. Oni Vincent, in collaboration with the Premier's office here in Toronto. 48 Leaders of various Nigerian Communities were in attendance including the all Nigerian body, Nigerian Canadian Association (NCA) represented by the President Mr Ahmed R Hamis and other Executive Officers. Officials of the New Democrats (ND), the newly registered political party in Nigeria (Prof. Isa Odidi, ND Chairman, Dr. Baba J. Adamu ND National Secretary, Mr. Sulaiman Oggu ND Executive Member), which principles, vision as well as its leadership came from among the Nigerian-Canadians in Toronto, also blessed the occasion.
The meeting started with a guided tour of the Legislative Building, which was conducted by Mr. Nuresha Ragbir, the Assistant to Mr. Raminder Gill, MPP. It was followed by Luncheon and greetings from Raminder Gill, MPP, Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Mr. Raminder Gill, M.P.P, who represented Ernie Eves, the Ontario Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs at the occasion welcomed the Nigerian leaders and representatives and outlined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's (PC) vision based on the principles of a strong economy, strong communities and a clean, healthy environment. He explained the premier's commitment towards working with all levels of government, stakeholders and communities to ensure that decisions on public investment help to improve the economic competitiveness, protect and enhance the environment, build liveable communities and create jobs.
There was an interactive session with a cabinet minister and some caucus members in which the Nigerian Community leaders asked questions related to issues that concern Nigerians in Ontario, and stressed the need to further enhance active cooperation with the various communities, as well as improving trade between Canada and Nigeria. It was widely recognized that the Premier's a experiences will undoubtedly be a great asset as he leads Ontario to a straight success in the coming election.
The cabinet minister present was: Hon. Minister Dianne Cunningham - London North Centre Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities (and Minister Responsible for Women's Issues) - Dianne Cunningham, MPP for London North Centre, was appointed Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities in June 1999. In October 2001, she was named chair of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada for a two-year term. The Caucus members in attendance were: Raminder Gill - MPP Bramalea - Gore - Malton - Springdale Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. He was elected to the Ontario Legislature on June 3, 1999. He was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Honourable Ernie Eves, in April 2002, after serving as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities. Prior to that, Mr. Gill served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour.  Bob Wood - MPP London West He was first elected M.P.P. in 1995 and re-elected in June, 1999, to represent the riding of London West. John O'Toole - MPP Durham He was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1995 as the Member for Durham East, with 62 per cent of the popular vote. In June 1999, he was re-elected for a second term to represent the new riding of Durham, and then appointed by Premier Harris to serve as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations. He was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance in 2001. Ted Arnott - MPP Waterloo Wellington He was 27 when he was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990. He was re-elected in 1995 and again in 1999 for a third consecutive term to represent the newly formed riding of Waterloo-Wellington. In a response to a question on training and education, the Hon. Minister of Training Dianne Cunningham elaborated in details the current skills training program, and new provision for Ontario children with more access to computers in the classroom, which the Nigerian Community feel will strongly benefit all communities including Nigerian community in Ontario
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The meeting was concluded with a decision to elect few representative to create ways of representing Nigerian Community interests, and participate in active role towards enhancing all Communities in Ontario.
A Message from the New Democrats (ND)
We the New Democrats applaud Ernie Eves' (Premier of Ontario) resolve to continue to create investment opportunities and boost economic vibrancy of the Province. We commend his leadership support for the "Smart Growth" blueprint for growth in Ontario, and his total commitment in responding to Dr. Rozanski’s report by making another important investment in Ontario’s education system. We equally praise the recent announcement of $66 million by the premier, jointly with his deputy Elizabeth Witmer, in new funding to provide Ontario children with more computers in the classroom, which will strongly benefit every community including Nigerian community. These strategic incentives for development remind us of our Strategies for Nigeria, which are contained in our "Abuja Declaration" and the "Untapped Potentials" launched during our Party National convention in Abuja, Nigeria. For these alone, you can count on our support. But we believe you can do more.
To quote the Premier, Ernie Eves “Ontario is a great place to live, work and raise a family. By working together, we can make it even better. This is a new era for Ontario. As we build on the best of what we have and change what is necessary, we will improve the lives of everyone who calls our great province home”. We, the Nigeria Community 100% agree with the Premier. That is equally why we are asking that the $600 million economic development fund created to promote economic development and strategic infrastructure investments will also be geared towards encouraging economic cooperation between Ontario and Nigeria.
In our own collective resolve to encourage bilateral trade between Nigeria and Ontario, we have formed Nigerian Canadian Board of trade and Commerce (NCBTC) to facilitate such bilateral economic relationship, and have actively taken part in the Federal Government Trade Initiative Program (Trade Mission to South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal), and we will certainly need other avenues from the Ontario Government, to continue to facilitate trade between the 2 countries. Other areas we are fully committed to are delivery of quality News and Information to our Nigerian Communities, and most importantly Government programs and information through our Award winning web sites: www.nipofo.com, and www.arewa-online.com
We would like to also inform the Premier, that Ontario, Canada is indeed a great place to be – and more so, an important factor for us as Nigerians living here because it has given birth to a political party in Nigeria, which is called the New Democrats (ND). The principles, the vision as well as the leadership of the party came about from the experiences that we acquire here in Canada. And, now we have yet another opportunity to extend Canadian wisdom and incorporate it to meet Nigerian needs. We will certainly welcome cooperation and are hereby appealing to Ontario leadership to give us moral support in this noble course.
