AGM 2021

Apr 6, 2021

Hello. My name is Michael Mueller, Chairman of Laurentian Bank of Canada. Welcome to the bank's twenty twenty one Annual Shareholders Meeting. We hope that you and your loved ones remain safe and well. Our main focus continues to be ensuring the health and safety of and support for our team members, our customers, our shareholders and other stakeholders during these challenging times. Part of this effort includes holding this meeting by live audio webcast. The meeting will begin with two video presentations, the first by me. My presentation will be followed by a presentation of Rania Lewellen, our President and CEO, who will speak via video presentation on highlights of the 2020 financial year. Each of these videos will be available on YouTube and the bank's website after the meeting. Before the presentations, I remind you that during the meeting, forward looking statements may be made, and it's possible that actual results may differ materially from those projected in those statements. For the complete cautionary note regarding forward looking statements, please refer to any of our 2020 annual information form, management discussion analysis or Slide two of the presentation. Let's begin with my presentation as Chairman of the Board. Thank you and enjoy the meeting. Good morning. Welcome to this Annual General Meeting of Laurentian Bank that we are holding virtually for the second year. We all look forward to meeting in person next year. Laurentian Bank will celebrate its one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary in May 2021. Since its inception in 1846, our bank has been through many ups and downs, but through it all, we have always come out stronger. I am particularly proud of the way the organization has responded over the past year to these challenges of these unprecedented times. From the outset of the pandemic, the Board and senior management put the health and safety of employees and customers first. The bank established many relief programs to support our personal, business and institutional clients. These included payment deferrals on credit products as well as a myriad of other steps to ease the stress on our clients. That philosophy of putting customer needs first will continue to guide our actions in the days, months and years ahead. On behalf of the Board, I want to express profound thanks to our employees for their professionalism, dedication and tireless efforts to maintain our operations and support our customers through an extremely challenging period. We are keenly aware of the stresses and challenges faced by both our employees working from home and those who continued working on our premises. I am proud of the commitment that the bank has made to supporting all employees through this difficult time, not only ensuring their physical safety, but also supporting their mental health and wellness. Of course, the COVID-nineteen pandemic has had a significant impact on the bank's operating results. In 2020, Laurentian Bank took proactive steps to ensure its financial strength and stability during this and after the pandemic. As a result, the improvements made in some of our businesses have been overshadowed by an increase in provisions for credit losses, as was seen with other banks. They have decreased sequentially since the beginning of 2021. While the Board does not believe that last year's results are representative of our organization's future performance, we made the prudent decision to reduce the quarterly dividend to $0.40 per common share in the third quarter. That is never an easy choice, but it was the right choice to make in order to improve our operational flexibility in this period of uncertainty. The bank's capital and liquidity have always been prudently managed. Strong credit quality, a solid balance sheet and a rigorous underwriting process helped to position us well for the future. 2020 was also a year of change for our bank's leadership. In accordance with the succession plan for senior management, the Board of Directors undertook a rigorous search process to identify and select a new President and Chief Executive Officer. This process concluded at the end of the fiscal year with the appointment of Rania Llewelyn. The Board is confident that Rania will drive the bank's future growth and success. She is an experienced executive who has a solid grasp of strategy and a proven record of successful execution. Rania has been a great addition to the team, and her strong leadership skills are already evident after just a few months. Over the past few years, major initiatives were launched to build a stronger foundation and modernize the bank in order to improve financial performance, including the replacement of our core banking system, the launch of our digital offering as well as the conversion of our traditional branch network to a 100% advice model. The pandemic has accelerated many of the changes that were already taking place in the industry, and Rania and the leadership team will be establishing a renewed strategic direction for Laurentian Bank that leverages our enhanced capabilities in a rapidly changing marketplace. The bank the Board has remained committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance to ensure optimal decision making and creating value for the long term benefit of all stakeholders. As we have in previous years, the Board members continued meeting with stakeholders to hear how they believe we can improve our corporate governance practices. Our ESG policies, in particular issues around the environment and diversity and inclusion featured prominently in our discussions. In terms of our commitment to the environment, the Board continued to monitor the implementation of measures to improve the bank's disclosure practices, leading to the adoption of the recommendations of the task force on climate related financial disclosures. In 2020, the bank started to develop a road map to set out the short, medium and long term priorities that will be included in its strategic plan. In terms of commitment to diversity and inclusion, the Board is constantly improving its practices in this area to ensure that we have a system of governance that is representative of the markets and communities in which the bank operates. The Board is particularly proud to have appointed the first woman to lead a major Canadian chartered bank, and we regularly review the Board's composition and director profiles to ensure we are well equipped to manage present and future challenges and opportunities. It is my pleasure to officially welcome Nicholas Zelensiak, who joined the Board last May as Director. Nick has more than thirty five years of experience in banking, capital markets and investment management and has held senior management positions with several large corporations in Canada. No doubt he will make a significant contribution expertise and depth of our Board. Also today, we have the pleasure of presenting the nomination of Suzanne Gouan to the Board. She is an accomplished director who focuses on business transformation, digital implementation, governance and human capital. Her knowledge and experience would complement an already diverse board. Our board governance policy provides that the tenure of directors is generally between ten and fifteen years. As such, last year, Lis Bastarache indicated her intention not to seek another mandate at the twenty twenty one annual meeting. Has been a tremendous asset to the Board since 2006 as a member of the Risk Management Committee and of the Audit Committee. Lise, thank you for your many contributions to the work of the Board. Before we turn to the official segment of our meeting, I would like to thank my colleagues on the Board for their advice and wise counsel during these tumultuous times. I am proud of how they dealt with a number of very meaningful and difficult issues over the past year. On behalf of the Board members, I also want to recognize the leadership of the executive team, which has demonstrated its ability to adapt to the unpredictable and unnerving events of recent months. And we are very pleased to welcome a number of new talented executives, three external hires and two internal promotions, who recently joined the senior leadership team. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to Francois Laurent, who is retiring today after a five year mandate as CFO of the bank. Francois, your steady hand, your sound advice and your guidance have been extremely valuable, especially during this period of change. On behalf of all of us, I wish you the best in the next chapter of your life. One of Francois' many achievements was to ensure there was a strong internal candidate to succeed him. Today, we welcome Yvon Deschamps as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Finally, to our customers and shareholders, I would like to express our gratitude for your loyalty and trust. You have our commitment that you will always be at the heart of our business. Let me conclude by saying that the bank will continue to move cautiously in the coming months, but that the Board is confident our bank will emerge even stronger and more successful. Thank you very much, and I hope that you and your loved ones continue to stay safe. Thank you. And now a word from our president and president of Rania Llewelyn. Good morning, everyone. It's an honor to be here with you, leading one of Canada's oldest and most historic financial institutions. As you may know, this year, we're celebrating one hundred and seventy five years dedicated to helping customers improve their financial health. I'm privileged to be part of Laurentian Bank's next chapter. I joined the organization during one of the most challenging times of our lifetime, in the middle of a pandemic, a crisis that's had huge impact on every customer, every employee and every Canadian. Our main focus continues to be ensuring the health and safety of our employees while supporting our customers and communities. In the past month, we've grown more optimistic with the news of increasing vaccine supplies and distribution. This translates to a greater sense of hope and the return to normalcy and economic stability. For all the challenges we faced as a country, as individuals and as an organization, this health crisis has proven that we are resilient, we are compassionate, we are agile and we are resourceful. We've learned a great deal in this process as well. We learned about the importance of adapting our operations to ensure a safe environment for our customers and employees. We learned that a crisis must not impede the evolution of our organization and that we must still deliver innovative solutions and services to our business, retail and institutional customers. I'm extremely proud and grateful for how our team responded quickly by bringing forward solutions such as credit relief through mortgage, personal and commercial loan payment deferrals to our customers. This crisis reminded us all that in difficult times, our customers need peace of mind and confidence in their financial health. In fact, this is paramount. From our humble beginnings in 1846 to today, Laurentian Bank has been there, helping families to grow, communities to thrive and businesses to succeed. Our foundation is solid and now we have the opportunity to chart our path forward and build our plans for the next one hundred and seventy five years. Throughout the years, we've worked hard to earn the trust of our customers. Trust needs to be earned. It is never just given. Financial institutions play an important role in the fabric of our country and economy. I believe that banking is a noble profession. Some of the most important decisions of our lives are made with the help of our financial institutions. And in times of hardship and crisis, we all need a banker we can trust. But we know we need to continue evolving, not for the sake of change, but rather to drive long term value for our shareholders. We must be thoughtful and resilient and deliberate in our actions, taking a customer lens approach, guided by common sense principles. We're looking at our value proposition and how we will stay relevant to our customers. This includes simplifying our processes, being nimble, agile and innovative to reduce complexity for our customers and drive efficiency in our business. With this backdrop, we're working on a new strategic direction centered around three pillars that will drive purposeful change. Number one, cultivating a customer first culture, which essentially means putting the customer at the center of everything we do, simplifying our end to end processes and truly owning the customer experience. We believe we can really differentiate ourselves here. Number two, creating a more agile organization with an innovative mindset through automation and digitization to be able to realize operational efficiencies while keeping focus on our risk management culture. Number three, engaging and empowering our employees to work collaboratively as one team and instilling in our people the power of diversity and inclusion. I firmly believe that success begins with having a winning mindset. These pillars have already steered some of our efforts and actions in three key areas: a renewal and increase of bench strength of our senior leadership team cost discipline with a focus on expense management and cost optimization opportunities to drive long term shareholder value and a thorough review of the bank's operations with a view to reassessing our priorities and delivering our value proposition and vision for the future by the end of the year. Shifting gears now to an area of particular interest and focus for our bank and our shareholders, our environmental, social and governance efforts. Without a doubt, this past year has made us all pause and take stock of what matters and what is important to us, our families and our communities. This has resulted in both a heightened focus and responsibility for ESG at both a local and global level. We're spearheading initiatives to expand and build new environmental policies, putting practices into place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prioritizing waste reduction and improving sustainability efforts in our day to day operations. Our short, medium and long term priorities are being guided by a road map developed from recommendations of the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures. Laurentian Bank is also raising the bar in our social priorities, recognizing that evolution and growth involves making the right choices to bring about positive change. Setting high benchmarks is how we will accomplish this. Some of the achievements we're particularly proud of include: adoption of the code of conduct for the delivery of banking services to seniors and we will continue to look at new ways to provide targeted support for other segments of our customers Addition of diversity targets to the scorecards of our leaders and in the reporting packages that go to the board. This will drive accountability and continue to improve equity, diversity and inclusion policies across our organization. Placing a high importance on mental health and wellness of employees in a number of ways, including in participating in events such as the recent Bell Let's Talk Day and the launch of our own Courageous Conversation initiative. We will continue to invest in our employees so they are engaged and empowered. And lastly, we've continued focus on our contributions to our communities, where every dollar counts and makes a difference. In 2020, the Bank supported many organizations and causes through corporate donations, sponsorships and the generosity of our Laurentian Bank employees. Of all the progress we've made, I'm proud that women at Laurentian Bank represent more than 55% of our workforce, 46% of our management positions, and we have had equal representation on our board for the past three years. The theme for International Women's Day this year is Choose to Challenge. At Laurentian Bank, we choose to challenge by leading. We were the first bank in Canada to appoint a woman as Chair of the Board, Jeanine Guillaume Wood in 1997. And in 2020, we were the first major bank in Canada to appoint a woman as CEO. Lastly, in terms of governance, our bank is committed to the highest standards of governance and transparency in all our activities so that our customers, shareholders and employees feel confident in how we operate. Our corporate governance culture is firmly rooted in best practice policies, processes and relationships to effectively manage risk, conduct business ethically and positively impact our shareholders. While we've achieved a lot, Laurentian Bank is early in its multiyear ESG journey, and we know there's more work to do. I am personally committed to building a legacy for our future customers, shareholders and employees. That's why I'm happy to announce today that I am undertaking the role of Laurentian Bank's ESG champion. I look forward to being the change agent that spearheads initiatives that increase our accountability and transparency as we evolve our organization like equity, diversity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and enhanced corporate governance. As I mentioned earlier, next month, Laurentian Bank will be celebrating an impressive milestone, our one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary. We're planning a number of activities throughout the year to mark this very special occasion as we connect our rich history and footprint in Quebec with a renewed outlook toward our future. In closing, I would like to take an opportunity to thank our Board for their support, guidance and ongoing counsel. A heartfelt thank you to our employees. Your professionalism during the challenging past year is to be commended. And I look forward to an exciting future together. To our customers, thank you for your business and for continuing to place your trust in us. And finally, to our shareholders, we appreciate your ongoing support. We are charting a new path forward at Laurentian Bank, one that is based on renewal and growth for the long term. Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you, Ronnie. I would now ask Sivan Fox, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary to provide details on the conduct of the meeting. Thank you, Mr. Mueller, and good morning. Most of the meeting will take place in English, while a portion will take place in French. Simultaneous translation service is available on demand. You are invited to select your preferred language by using the webcast button located at the top of your screen. On a mobile device, the webcast icon is at the bottom of your screen. This assembly will be held mostly in English. There is simultaneous translation available on demand. To choose your language, just click on the webcast button at the top of your screen. And for mobile devices, this, button is at the bottom of your screen. Ensure that it runs smoothly. These rules have been posted on the bank's website in the investor center. To facilitate the meeting procedure, we have asked shareholders or proxy holders who are also bank employees to act as proposers or seconders of the formal resolutions. Please note that only persons whose names appear on the bank's register of shareholders at the close of business on the meeting record date, 02/05/2021, or their duly appointed proxy holders are entitled to vote at the meeting. Guests may attend the meeting but cannot ask questions or vote. Once the voting has opened, the polling icon will appear on the navigation bar at the top of your screen. Meeting resolutions and voting choices will then be displayed. After you vote, a message confirming vote received will appear. Your vote can be changed by simply clicking another voting choice, or if you wish to cancel your vote, please press cancel. You can vote or change your vote at any time on any resolution or proposal up until the closing of the voting. All votes represented by registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders at the meeting will be counted and added to any votes received earlier by proxy. The poll will be open to allow you to vote for all of the resolutions immediately. You can also choose to wait until the conclusion of the discussion on each resolution and then cast your vote on that resolution. I would like to remind shareholders who have already voted or sent in their proxy that any votes that you cast at the meeting will automatically revoke any proxy you previously submitted. If you do not wish to revoke a previously submitted proxy, you are not required to do anything further and should not vote at the meeting. Shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders may also submit questions at any time during the meeting until the chair terminates the meeting. If you would like to submit a question, select the messaging icon at the top of your screen, type your message within the text box at the bottom of the messaging screen and click the send button. When submitting a question, please provide your full name and, if applicable, the name of the person on whose behalf you are acting. We will address or answer specific and relevant business questions before the close of voting. Other relevant questions will be answered during the q and a session following the formal business of the meeting. Questions which can't be answered during the meeting will be posted online along with the bank's answers following the meeting. The results of the votes will be communicated at the end of the formal portion of the meeting. I now invite the Chairman of the Board to begin the meeting. Thank you, Sivan. Please note that I will act as Chair of the meeting, and Ms. Fox will act as Secretary of the meeting. Please also note that this meeting is being recorded and will be posted on our website. Joining us today via webcast are members of the bank's board. I would like to formally introduce my fellow board members and our new board nominees all standing for election today. They are Ms. Sonia Baxandale, Ms. Andrea Bulger, Mr. Michael Boychuk, Ms. Suzanne Duen, a new Board nominee, Ms. Rania Llewellyn, a new Board nominee, Mr. David Morris, Mr. David Mowat, Ms. Michelle Savoy, Ms. Susan Wolberg Jenna, and Mr. Nicholas Zolanchuk, a new Board nominee. I will now call the meeting to order. As in previous meetings, we will first attend to the formal matters set out in the notice of meeting, which are: number one, presentation of the financial statements number two, election of directors number three, appointment of the bank's external auditor number four, adoption of a nonbinding advisory resolution concerning the bank's approach to executive compensation and number five, consideration of any shareholder proposals. A representative of MEDEC will present these proposals. We then have a question period for shareholders and proxy holders, followed by announcement of the voting results. For the benefit of everyone participating today, I will ask Ms. Fox and Ms. Fleurenden to read aloud any questions or comments that we receive. I should also remind participants that in this formal part of the meeting, questions and comments should relate only to business or affairs of the meeting and not to any other matter. Please refrain from any questions which are of a personal nature. Shareholders or proxy holders with questions or comments relating to the formal business of the meeting should submit these by selecting the messaging icon on their screen and entering the question or comment into the text box. Ms. Fox, have the notices and documents relevant to the meeting been sent to the shareholders? Mr. Chair, please let me note that this year, the bank made use of the Canadian notice and access rules for the delivery to shareholders of our management proxy circular and other materials relating to the meeting. Instead of receiving paper copies of meeting materials, shareholders received a notice of meeting and a notice of availability of meeting materials. The notice explains how to access the materials online and how to request paper copies of the materials. It also sets out the business items of meeting. Meeting materials are also included a voting instruction form and a form of proxy. Computer Share, our transfer agent, has confirmed to the bank that the meeting materials have been made available to shareholders of record entitled to vote. As secretary, I am now tabling a copy of the notice of meeting, the management proxy circular, the affidavit relating to the delivery of the meeting materials, and other documents distributed in connection with this meeting. Thank you, Ms. Fox. I will start the formal part of the meeting with the appointment of the scrutineers and confirmation of meeting quorum. Before addressing the agenda items with your permission, Ms. Martine Gauthier and Ms. Gail Demick of Computershare Investor Services will be acting as scrutineers at the meeting. The scrutineers have the shareholder list of the bank as of the close of business on 02/05/2021, the record date for determining shareholders eligible to vote at the meeting. A copy of the scrutineers report on attendance will be attached to the minutes of this meeting. I have been advised by the scrutineers that notice of the meeting was properly given and that we have a quorum. I can now declare this meeting properly constituted for the transaction of business. The first item on the agenda is the presentation and tabling of the bank's annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended 10/31/2020, and their accompanying auditor's report. Unless there is an objection, I will dispense with the reading of the auditor's report. I will now ask Ms. Fox if we have received any questions or comments relating to the 2020 financial statements. Ms. Fox? Mr. Chair, we have received no questions or comments regarding the financial statements. Thank you. Before we continue and on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Ms. Liz Bastaraj for her valuable contribution and service throughout her tenure on the Board. Let's begin with the election of directors. The number of directors to be elected at the meeting is 11, in accordance with the bank's bylaws and the recommendation of the Board and its Human Resource and Corporate Governance Committee. All nominees are listed in the bank's management information circular on Page seven. The election of the directors will be conducted on an individual and not slate basis. The bank has adopted a majority voting policy for the election of directors, and therefore, if any of the directors standing for reelection did not receive the vote of at least a majority of the votes cast at the meeting, that director is required to promptly tender his or her resignation to the board, and the board would then determine whether or not to accept the resignation in accordance with the policy. The names of the bank's proposed nominee directors are displayed on your screen for ease of reference. I will now read their names aloud. Ms. Sonia Baxandale, Ms. Andrea Bulger, Mr. Michael Boychuk, Ms. Suzanne Goin, Ms. Rania Lewellen, Mr. David Morris, Mr. David Mowat, Mr. Michael Mueller, Ms. Michelle Savoy, Ms. Susan Wolberg Jenna, and Mr. Nicholas Zelenschek. Ms. Gwin, Ms. Llewellyn, and Mr. Zelenschek are new nominees standing for election to our board this year. We thank them and our returning nominees for their confidence in our organization and their willingness to serve. Can I now have a motion to elect the directors? Mr. Chair, my name is Susan Cone, and I hereby move that each of the 11 proposed nominees be elected as a director to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until his or her respective successor is elected or appointed. Thank you. Who will second this motion? My name is Emmanuel Afranade, and I second this motion. Thank you. Ms. Fox, have we received any questions or comments relating to the election of directors? Mr. Chair, we have received no questions or comments relating to this item. Thank you. I now invite the shareholders and proxy holders to vote on this item if they have not already done so, following which we will continue with the meeting. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of the auditor. On the recommendation of the Board's Audit Committee, I would like to recommend that Ernst and Young be appointed external auditor of the bank. May I have a motion for the appointment of Ernst and Young as the bank's external auditor until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until a successor is appointed and to authorize the Board to fix the auditor remuneration. My name is Susan Cohen, and I hereby move that Ernst and Young be appointed as the bank's external auditor until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until a successor is appointed and that the Board fix and approve the remuneration. Thank you. Can I have a seconder? My name is Emmanuel Afranade, and I second this motion. Thank you. Ms. Fox, have we received any questions or comments regarding the appointment of the auditor or its remuneration? Mr. Chair, we have received a question, and I will ask Emmanuel of Florandan to read it out aloud as it's presented in French. So regarding the remuneration, I am, and I am on behalf of Medak, the education on the defense of the shareholders. Medak, it is surprising to see the amount for the exiting and new CEO, the amount is quite high. And so we are asking shareholders to vote against this proposal. This is the end of the comment. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gagnon, for your question. This specific motion relates to the appointment of the auditor. I believe your question related to the compensation of the CEO. So I'm not sure what else to respond to you on this basis. And I would ask shareholders and proxy holders to vote on this item, if they have not already done so, following which we will continue with the meeting. The next agenda item is the vote on the nonbinding advisory resolution concerning the bank's approach to executive officer compensation. The wording of this resolution is also set out in the management proxy circular you have received. May I have a motion to adopt this resolution? My name, my decision, I move that the non binding advisory resolution concerning the bank's pushed to executive officer compensation for which the wording is set out in the circular be approved. Thank you. Can I have a seconder? I second this motion. So I understand now, Mr. Gagnon, your question related to this, issue or this motion, and I understand, I'll respond to it now if that's acceptable. As you no doubt understand, the President and CEO of our organization is the most critical spot that we have in our organization. We hired a compensation consultant, as well as a search consultant, put a small committee of the Board together and took this very seriously in terms of bringing in our new CEO. We had both internal and external candidates that we reviewed quite diligently. And most importantly, the compensation required to be the president and CEO of an organization as large and complex as Laurentian Bank, it's very critical to get correct. We are completely comfortable, the entire Board and specifically its HR and Governance Committee, that the right process was followed and the right compensation system is in place. Are there any other questions, Ms. Fox? Mr. Chair, we have received no further questions at this time. Thank you. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to submit their vote on this item if they have not already done so. The next items to be put before the meeting are the shareholder proposals. The bank received seven proposals from the deck. The proposals and supporting statements as well as the bank's responses were included in Schedule A to its management information circular. Following discussion with representatives of MEDEC, MEDEC has agreed that proposals two, three, four, five and seven will not be put to a vote. I now invite mister Willie Gagnon to address the meeting regarding MEDEX proposals. Mister Gagnon? Hello, mister chair. Do you hear me well? Can you hear me? Thank you very much. Hello. I am, Ivan Gagnon. Oh, we and I'm on behalf of the MEDAC. And we are at our twentieth anniversary this year, and we sent seven proposals to the seven main Canadian banks, and you are part of this group. So we've sent you our seven proposals to the overall Canadian banks. The objective is trying to have some influence on the practices of the banking industry. So these were not proposals targeting only you. The only two proposals that will go that will be voted today are at the Page 63 and page 69 of the document. One proposal is about the reason of being board of directors and why this bank exists. So when members of the board have to do the follow-up of the policies. So we have, of course, seen that the bank has a purpose. So this is about the purpose and which is a benefit, purely profit and benefit. That is the purpose of the bank. And so in our discussions, we've seen that you did not want to inscribe to enter in the governance statement of the bank to ensure a follow-up of that question about the purpose. So we want to thank at least that you've, inscribed this responsibility at the Board level. But in fact, the Board is responsible of all of this, and it would be better. It would be an advantage if you would inscribe on top of this first inscription something at the governance level, something that was not possible for you, but this was possible for the majority of the other banks, to which we have made this proposal. We did not vote on this elsewhere in other banks. So we would like you to inscribe this responsibility at the level of the governance committee in the future. And of course, we invite all of the shareholders to vote in favor of this proposal. And I think that we could agree on this. The proposal six is about the question of the circular economy. It's proposed that the bank will draft a report about what was consented in the past about the support of the circular economy support of the circular economy in support of the environment, something which is not well developed, such as GHG emissions. And this proposal that we also sent to all of the Canadian banks, We've accepted not to vote on this with the National Bank and the Bank of Montreal on that proposal because both of them have signed the responsible banking initiative. This is under the United Nations dealing with financial issues. So we invite the bank to adhere to these principles, and then we would be able in the future not to send such proposals if you agree. So these principles are principles that have been agreed upon by other banks. So I reiterate my request. Please adhere to these principles. And of course, we invite all of the shareholders to vote in favor of this proposal as well. We've sent you as well five other proposals very, very quickly. I'm going to give a glimpse of these. We sent a proposal about the organization of virtual meetings, and we've agreed with the bank about the fact that these assemblies should be organized in order to gather as many people as possible in person. We've also agreed with the bank that it will be possible to have verbal interactions, which we are doing right now. We hope that for every shareholders, it would be possible to, intervene, verbally, just like it was possible with the TD Bank last week or last month. We hope that it will be able in the next years and that these assemblies will be similar to in person assemblies. So we sent a proposal to the human resource committee, and you've inscribed in the mandate of the human resources, just like the National Bank, the responsibility of ensuring the follow-up of the health and well-being of employees. And we've also sent a proposal about the fair share of the ratification fund. This is an FOI about the COVID situation. We've got the information that we've requested in the answer, which is printed, in the notification. We've also sent another proposal about the climate change issues. We're happy, that you consider that you've, adhered to this proposal. And we've also sent another proposal about the discretionary power of the renumeration renumeration committee in relation to the, renumeration level. So we are generally happy about the discussions we've had with the bank so far this year. We are happy. It is unfortunate that we were not able to agree on this purpose issue at the governance level, but we still have hope that it will be possible in the future and that we can reach, to an agreement in the future about the purpose of the bank at the government's level. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Daniel, for your comments. I remind all attendees that only proposal one, purpose and commitment, and proposal six, circular economy, will be put to a vote at this meeting. The text of these proposals and the reasons that your board is recommending against them are set out in Schedule A to the management information circular. In the interest of time, we will not revisit the board's reasons for its positions during this meeting, nor will we comment on the statements made on behalf of MEDEC. Ms. Fox, have we received any questions or comments relating to the MEDEC proposal? Mr. Chair, we have received no comments or questions on proposals. Thank you. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to submit their vote on this item if they have not already done so. Please note that your board recommends voting against these proposals. Once the final vote for this matter has taken place, we will close the polls and there will be no further voting. The polls will close in approximately thirty seconds. The polls are now closed. While our scrutineers tally and confirm, we can open the meeting to any further previously unanswered or unaddressed questions from shareholders and duly authorized proxy holders. Please enter your questions now by selecting the question icon on your screen, typing the question, and then selecting send. Confirmation that your message has been received will appear. Please note that questions may be asked in English or in French. I will either respond to your questions directly or have them addressed by our President and CEO or another member of the bank's executive team. I understand that the first question comes from Ms. Anna DeLappe. I will ask Ms. Fox to read the question. My question is for Ms. Llewellyn. What can you tell us about what you've learned about Laurentian Bank now that you've been CEO for just over five months? What gives you confidence that you can move the bank forward in a positive direction? Thank you for your question. I'm absolutely honored and privileged to lead such as an esteemed institution, a 175 institution with deep roots in Quebec. So I've spent I've been with the organization for the last five months, spent a lot of time with roundtables, with employees, customers, investors, and shareholders. And so some of the things that I wanted to share with everybody today in terms of we have a very strong commercial franchise with deep expertise specializing in inventory, financing, equipment financing, real estate financing. We have a clear value proposition, which really differentiates us in the markets with deep, long standing relationships with our customers. And we have a very diverse portfolio with healthy margins and really strong credit quality. Over the last five months, I would say we've made some significant progress, good progress, and we started putting our strategy into action. We started by renewing our senior leadership team. We've had four external hires and two internal promotions that we've activated. We reorganized the personal and commercial banks so that we can continue to focus on those two distinct divisions. And we started focusing on cost discipline and reviewing a deep strategic review as well as looking at a number of additional end to end mortgage reviews and other reviews as well. I would say in terms of one of the great things that I've also come across in my last five months is the deep talent that we have within Laurentian Bank. We have really talented individuals who are knowledgeable, passionate, and overly committed to the future success of the organization. And they're really craving the direction and focus and priorities that the new leadership team will be providing over the months to come. And together, we will chart the path forward towards renewal and growth. I strongly believe we're building on a solid foundation. We have a strong credit quality. We have healthy capital and liquidity, and we have diversified operations. Number two, we're working diligently on establishing new strategy and direction. So as I mentioned, we're doing a deep dive on our strategic review. While we're focused initially on cost discipline, we're quickly pivoting to cost optimization. And as I've mentioned, we've reorganized the personal and commercial division. And I would say number three is our renewal and growth agenda, which is really centered on three strategic pillars. Number one, cultivating a customer first culture, so putting the customer at the center of everything that we do. Number two, driving an agile and innovative mindset, so leveraging the size of our organization and the talent that we have to be agile and nimble and move faster. And number three is engaging and empowering our employees to work as one team to unlock the power of Laurentian collectively as one bank. Thank you. Thank you, Rania. Ms. Fox, do we have any other questions? Mr. Chair, we have received no further questions or comments at this time. Thank you. I understand that the votes on today's meeting items have been counted, and the preliminary report of the scrutineers have been delivered to the bank. I accept the scrutineers' report. Based on the report, I now declare the motions for the appointment of the auditor and auditor compensation and the approval of the nonbinding advisory resolution concerning the bank's approach to executive officers' compensation duly adopted. I also declare the following persons elected as directors: Sonya Baxandale, Andrea Bulger, Michael Boychuk, Suzanne Gwen, Rania Llewelyn, David Morris, David Mowat, Michael Mueller, Michelle Savoy, Susan Wolberg Jenna and Nicholas Zelenschuk. I also declare that proposal one, purpose and commitment, and proposal six, circular economy, were not adopted as they did not receive the majority of votes cast at this meeting. And I hereby request that the final report of the scrutineers be attached to the minutes of this meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to conclude the meeting. I would like to thank once again all shareholders and proxy holders who attended, Board members for their important contributions to the bank's success, and the executives and team members for their dedication to the performance of the bank and the execution of its strategic plan, particularly in light of recent unprecedented challenges beginning in 2020 to the present and stemming from the COVID-nineteen pandemic. As there are no other matters to come before the meeting, I hereby declare this meeting terminated. I would like to wish all the best to you and your families and hope that you remain well and healthy. May I have a motion to terminate the meeting? Mr. Chair, I move to terminate this meeting. Thank you. Can I have a seconder? I second this motion. Thank you. The meeting is terminated, and we are adjourned.