Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SunOpta Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is being held virtually. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host, Dean Hollis, Chair of the SunOpta Board of Directors and acting chair for today's meeting. Mr. Hollis, please proceed.
Good afternoon, and welcome to the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of SunOpta Inc. I would like to introduce the persons joining me today: Directors Albert Bolles, Rebecca Fisher, Katrina Houde, Brian Kocher, Diego Reynoso, Leslie Starr, and Mahes Wickramasinghe, and Management Representative Jill Barnett. While I would prefer to be with you in person, hosting our meeting virtually allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of our shareholders. So thank you for joining us electronically. As is our custom, we will conduct the business portion of our meeting first, and then answer any questions at the end of the meeting. Only validated shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. I would like to call this meeting to order and declare the polls open on all resolutions.
Our corporate secretary is Jill Barnett, and she will act as secretary of the annual meeting. We will now proceed with the business portion of this meeting. For the purposes of this meeting, I appoint Leanne Bernston from Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., as scrutineer of this meeting. A declaration of mailing of the notice calling this annual meeting has been duly filed, and since you have received the notice of meeting and accompanying materials, I would suggest a resolution be moved, dispensing with the reading of the notice and accompanying materials, and that the same be taken as read.
I move that the reading of the notice and accompanying materials be hereby dispensed with, and that for all purposes of this meeting, the notice and accompanying materials be taken as having been read in full at this meeting.
I second the motion.
I have been advised that there are voting shares representing approximately 75% of all outstanding voting shares of the company present, and therefore, a quorum of shareholders of the company is present, and the meeting is properly called and duly constituted for the transaction of business. I have received the scrutineer's report, and I direct that their formal report be annexed to the minutes of this meeting as a schedule. Given the certificate of notice, calling the annual meeting has been duly approved and a quorum being present. I therefore declare this annual meeting of shareholders to be regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business, and that the polls be opened for voting on all resolutions. For your information, sufficient proxies have been received to pass all resolutions with overwhelming majorities. I have before me the annual report and audited consolidated financial statements of SunOpta Inc.
for the year ended December 30, 2023, approved on behalf of the Board of Directors of the company. Copies of the financial statements have previously been made available to shareholders pursuant to the Notice and Access system under applicable securities laws. Should any shareholder wish to receive a copy, it may be accessed on our website at www.sunopta.com under the Investor Relations tab. Should you wish to receive a hard copy, you may request one by completing an information request on our website under the Investor Relations tab. Now we will proceed with the first item on the agenda, the election of directors for the ensuing year.
In accordance with the company's articles, the SunOpta Board of Directors has fixed the number of directors to be elected at the meeting at eight directors and has proposed the following individuals for election as directors to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected: Dr. Albert Bolles, Rebecca Fisher, Dean Hollis, Katrina Houde, Brian Kocher, Diego Reynoso, Leslie Starr, Mahes Wickramasinghe. Since no further nominations were received by the company in accordance with the company's advance notice, Bylaw Number 15 , I declare the nominations closed. Based upon results by the scrutineer, all nominees have received more votes for than against. As a result, I declare the individuals nominated to be duly elected directors of the company to hold office until the next annual election of directors or until their successors are duly elected or appointed.
The next item on the agenda is the appointment of the independent registered accounting firm and auditor of the company for the ensuing year, and I believe Jill Barnett has a resolution in this regard.
I move that Ernst & Young LLP be appointed the independent registered public accounting firm and auditor of the company until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are duly appointed, and that the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors be authorized to fix their remuneration.
I second the motion.
Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. The next item on the agenda is the approval on an advisory basis of a resolution relating to the compensation of the company's named executive officers. I believe Brian Kocher has a resolution in this regard.
I move that the company's shareholders approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the named executive officers, as disclosed in the company's Proxy Statement for the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Compensation Discussion and Analysis, the Summary Compensation Table, and other related tables and narrative discussion under the Executive Compensation caption.
I second the motion.
Unless there are any questions, I will move to the voting. Voting today will be conducted by electronic ballot. For those of you who have not yet cast your votes, please do so now. Any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxyholder who hasn't voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the vote, voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted by telephone or the internet and do not want to change their vote, do not need to take any further action. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I now declare the polls closed. As previously noted, I have been advised by the scrutineer that proxies deposited for the meeting are sufficient to pass all resolutions by an overwhelming majority.
I would ask that the scrutineer compile the report regarding the results of voting on all business matters and direct that the results will be included in the minutes of this meeting and disclose via press release and Form 8-K, which will be filed on EDGAR with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and on SEDAR with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities within the next few days. There being no further business, may I have a motion of termination of the legal portion of the meeting?
Mr. Chair, I move that the Annual Meeting of Shareholders be terminated.
I second the motion.
I declare the motion carried. This concludes the legal portion of our meeting. In closing, I would like to thank our shareholders for their ongoing support, my colleagues on the board, our senior management team, and all SunOpta team members for their hard work and dedication, and to our valued customers for their business. Operator, I will now turn it over to you for any questions.
For those watching, you can ask a question by submitting it in the Q&A section on your web console. Please feel free to submit questions now.
There are no questions at this time. Thank you for joining us for SunOpta's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Have a good day.