Hello, welcome to the BCE 2026 Annual General Shareholder Meeting. [Non-Englsih content] Gordon Nixon, and I'm pleased to preside over this meeting as Chair of the BCE Board of Directors. Before I call the meeting to order, I would like to turn to our Corporate Secretary, Melanie Schweizer, who will provide our land acknowledgment. We maintain strong ties with the land. First people play a role key in the present and future of the land. Land acknowledgments are more than words. They are invitation to learn, reflect, and support actions to our reconciliation. Let's continue to deepening our understanding, supporting Indigenous-led initiatives, and building relationships rooted in respect, reciprocity, and truth. [Non-English content] Melanie. I will now call the meeting to order. As we announced at last year's annual meeting, this year, for the first time, we are conducting our annual general meeting in a hybrid format, with shareholders attending and able to participate, vote, and ask questions at the meeting, both in person and live video webcast through Lumi platform. We welcome all shareholders attending the meeting, both those online and those in the room with us today. In a moment, we will review the procedures of the meeting and how shareholders can vote, raise points of order, make motions, speak to shareholder proposals, and ask questions during the meeting. In the meantime, I will review a few preliminary matters. The business of this meeting will be conducted in both English and in French. For those attending the meeting online, you may choose the language feed at the bottom of the broadcast screen. Closed captioning is available on all feeds. If you are listening by telephone and you wish to change the language, you must hang up and dial back into the meeting using the phone number that corresponds to the language of your choice, and that is indicated on the website. For those attending the meeting in person, we have made available to you headsets for simultaneous translation of today's proceedings. If you need a headset, please raise your hand, and you will get one. I will now introduce the members of the BCE team joining me on stage today. First is Mirko Bibic, as everyone knows, our President and Chief Executive Officer. You have already heard from Melanie Schweizer, our Senior Vice President of Corporate Services and our Corporate Secretary. In accordance with the BCE bylaws, I, as chair of the board, will chair this meeting, and Melanie will act as secretary. Louis Vachon, a member of our board of directors and incoming chair, subject to his election later in the meeting, will also be addressing the meeting later on, and he, along with Mirko, will participate and run the Q&A sessions. You can ask really hard questions of the chairman this year. Also attending today's meeting are members of our board of directors who will be introduced shortly, as well as members of our senior management, including our CFO, Curtis Philippsen, who, along with representatives from Ernst & Young, our shareholders are here. Before we begin, I would ask Melanie to take us through the procedures of today's meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Voting during today's meeting will be held both through the Lumi platform and in person. As described in the proxy circular, only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who received a control number from our transfer agent, TSX Trust Company, may vote during the meeting. You do not need to vote during the meeting if you submitted a proxy, as your proxy holder will vote on your behalf. For those attending online, starting now, you can register your vote on all items of business for today's meeting. To vote, click on the Voting tab on the left of your screen. You will see the meeting resolutions displayed, and can, for each resolution, select one of the voting options available. Your vote will be automatically submitted to our transfer agent after you make your selection. Votes may be changed up to the time voting is closed. For those attending in person and entitled to vote at the meeting, upon registering with TSX Trust at the meeting today, you should have received a handheld voting device or ballot. Please note that you do not need a device or ballot if you already voted by proxy and do not wish to change your vote. If you don't have a handheld voting device or ballot and need one, please raise your hand. If you don't have a handheld voting device or ballot and need one, please raise your hand. Shareholders attending in person, the voting procedure for today's meeting will be outlined immediately prior to the commencement of the applicable voting period. The polls will remain open until the chair declares voting on all matters closed. Preliminary results will be announced later this morning. Final results will be posted on bce.ca. Shareholders attending online may submit questions at any time during the meeting until the end of the question and answer period. It is recommended that questions be submitted online as early as possible during the meeting so that they can be answered at the appropriate time. Online, click on the Question tab on the left of your screen and submit your question. Your question will be read at the appropriate time. Assuming they've been submitted in sufficient time, questions related to the matters of business to be voted on will be addressed at the time such matter is being discussed. Other questions will be addressed during the question and answer session. To ask a question by telephone, call the number appearing on the screen on the meeting page at bce.ca and on the homepage of the Lumi platform, and then press star one. A Lumi representative will contact you and ask for your 13-digit control number. You will then be unmuted at the appropriate time for you to ask your question live. To ask a question by audio only or video through the Lumi platform, click on the Request to Speak button at the top right of the broadcast panel. Allow your browser access to your microphone and camera as applicable, and then click on the green check mark. You will be called upon to ask your question and unmuted automatically at the appropriate time. If you are a shareholder or proxy holder attending in person and wish to address the Chair with respect to an item being discussed, you should, at the appropriate time, go to the microphone located in the aisle. State your name and whether you are a shareholder or proxy holder before presenting your question or comment. If you prefer to wait to ask a question or make a comment, or if your question or comment does not relate to the item being discussed, there will be a general question and comment session at the end of the meeting. All the procedures summarized above also apply to the introduction of motions, particularly at the regards of the agenda. For further details, please refer to our procedural code and the Lumi user guide, which are available on our website and on the Lumi platform. Questions should be of interest to all shareholders and not personal in nature. If your question is related to a personal matter, for those of you attending in person, a customer service booth has been set up in the hall just outside the meeting room, where our customer service representatives will be happy to assist you. For those attending online, if your question relates to a personal matter, it will not be read, and instead a BCE representative will communicate with you after the meeting if you've provided your contact information. To allow us to respond to as many questions as possible during the 90 min allotted for this meeting, we will limit each shareholder to 1 question and ask that it be succinct and limited to a maximum of 2 min. Questions submitted online on the same topic or otherwise related will be grouped together and addressed at the same time. Any question that cannot be answered during the meeting due to time constraints will be posted on the BCE website with the corresponding answer as soon as practicable after the meeting. I would now like to bring your attention to the notice appearing on screen. Today's remarks will contain forward-looking statements. These are based on several assumptions and are subject to important risks. The notice on screen contains precautionary statements in this regard and is made on behalf of each speaker whose remarks today will contain forward-looking statements. Finally, I can report that Bertrand Gerin and Isabelle Vachon, employees of TSX Trust Company, have been appointed to act as scrutineers at this meeting. Mr. Chair, I now turn the meeting over to you. Thank you, Melanie. The procedures for a hybrid meeting are almost as long as the meeting itself. Once again, good morning to everyone, and welcome to BCE's 2026 Annual General Shareholders Meeting. It is a pleasure to be here today to share progress that we've made over the past year to compete and win in what is a fast-changing marketplace, as well as to deliver long-term value for our BCE shareholders. Our revitalized brand tagline, Connection is everything, underscores the Bell team's fundamental role to enable individuals and businesses to forge meaningful relationships and experiences with each other and with their communities. As Chair of BCE's Board of Directors since 2016, it has been a privilege to work with the executive team to build a strong foundation that ensures that we're facilitating those connections and that Bell is well-positioned for growth into the future. Our efforts are driven by four strategic priorities. First, put the customer first. Deliver the best fiber and wireless networks. Lead in enterprise and with AI-powered solutions. Build a digital media and content powerhouse. In 2025, the board provided oversight on several transformative initiatives that are accelerating momentum on these four priorities today and in the years to come. Here are just a few highlights. We introduced three new companies, Ateko, Bell Cyber, and Bell AI Fabric, key drivers of our plan to lead in the high-growth enterprise space by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence. We completed the acquisition of Ziply Fiber, expanding our fiber presence in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. We unveiled our three-year strategic plan at the BCE Investor Day, which clearly outlines how Bell will meet the growing demand for connectivity. Pivot towards scalable growth platforms, notably AI-powered enterprise solutions and digital media, along with investments in our leading fiber and wireless networks. These platforms are supported by a disciplined capital allocation strategy, including a continued focus on deleveraging and strengthening our balance sheet. Most importantly, the entire team is driven by a shared commitment to deliver a better customer experience, and that is happening. In my ten years as Chair, the BCE Board provided oversight during an extraordinary period of industry transition as well as technological advancement. It has been a privilege of working with an executive team to provide guidance on innovative products and services that will continue to create long-term value. As this is my last and final AGM as Chair, I'd like to highlight just a few of those accomplishments of the Bell team over that period. Firstly, the creation of Bell MTS following our acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services, which significantly expanded broadband communication services in the province. The launch of 5G wireless, which now covers 89% of the Canadian population. Successfully navigating the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and keeping Canadians connected to their family and friends when it was needed most. Advancing our fiber strategy through an accelerated capital allocation plan while working quickly to decommission our legacy networks. Our digital media strategy, powered by Crave, which is expanding the reach and impact of Canadian storytelling through Bell Media's original content. Maintaining disciplined oversight through a period of intense industry disruption and difficult economic uncertainty. In my role as chair, I have had the privilege of helping to guide CEO succession planning, including the transition from George Cope to Mirko Bibic as CEO in 2020, which set a strong foundation which has been critical to BCE's ongoing success as Canada's largest communications company. I would like to sincerely thank my fellow directors, our leadership team, all Bell team members, and especially our customers and shareholders for their ongoing trust and support. It has been an honor to serve such a historic Canadian company that touches the lives of almost every Canadian. I'd like to say a few words of welcome to the incoming Chair of the BCE board, my good friend Louis Vachon, an outstanding business and community leader. Louis Vachon and I both have roots in the Canadian banking industry, and I've had the pleasure of working with him more closely since he joined the BCE Board in 2022. As former CEO of National Bank of Canada and through his service on boards of several iconic Canadian companies everywhere, Louis Vachon has a deep knowledge and experience to deliver long-term value for BCE's customers and shareholders. The BCE Board is very lucky to have Louis Vachon as its Chair, I can assure you it is in capable hands. BCE was on a roll until it hit a very difficult patch, which was COVID-19 and the post-COVID-19 period, which had a very upending impact on our industry. It reset, it is once again an incredibly exciting time for our company. BCE has done the hard work of putting the building blocks in place that we can take advantage of opportunities that lie ahead for us and achieve solid and sustainable growth by connecting Canadians and each other to the world. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank you once again for your confidence and support. The meeting today will proceed as follows. After confirming the establishment of a quorum, we will proceed with the receipt of our 2025 consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report. We will then vote on the election of directors, the appointment of Ernst & Young as our auditors, and an advisory resolution on executive compensation and as well a shareholder proposal. Our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mirko Bibic, will then address the meeting. Following which, we'll announce the results of the votes. Louis Vachon, our BCE board member and incoming chair, will then be chair and will then address the meeting. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will conclude the meeting with a question-and-answer session. Starting with agenda item number 1, the scrutineers have provided me with their report on attendance, which will be filed with the records of this meeting. The attendance report, together with proxies, which I hold, confirm that shareholders representing at least 25% of all outstanding shares of BCE are entitled to vote and are in attendance at the meeting. I therefore declare that the meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of such business as may properly be brought before it. Moving to item number 2, the BCE annual financial report for our 2025 contains the consolidated financial statements with the auditor's report thereon. A copy of the 2025 annual financial report will be filed with the records of this meeting. We have with us today Curtis Philippsen, our Chief Financial Officer, as well as representatives from Ernst & Young, Janice Roth, to answer any questions that you may have on our financial statements. Melanie, I would ask you whether there are any questions online with respect to this item of business. There are no questions on this item, Mr. Chair. Are there any questions in the room on the financial statements? Seeing none, we will therefore proceed to the next agenda item. The next item of business on the agenda is the election of our directors. There are 13 directors to be elected and 13 eligible candidates who have been nominated. The Director nominees are Mirko Bibic, Robert Dexter, Katherine Lee, Monique Leroux, Sheila Murray, Lou Pagnutti, Calin Rovinescu, Karen Sheriff, Jennifer Tory, Louis Vachon, Stephen Weed, Johan Wibergh, and Cornell Wright. These are your board nominees. We will now turn to questions related to this item of business. Are there any questions in the room with respect to the election of directors? Melanie, are there any questions online? There are no questions online, Mr. Chair. In order to facilitate the conduct of the votes, Melanie, who is a BCE shareholder, will be presenting the motions with respect to certain items on the agenda. We have arranged for certain other shareholders or proxy holders to second these motions. I would now ask Melanie to move the election of the nominees of 13 directors positions to be filled at today's meeting. Mr. Chair, I move that each of the 13 persons previously named be elected a director of BCE Inc. until the earlier of the end of the next shareholder meeting, annual shareholder meeting and the date they cease to hold office. Thank you, Melanie. Seconding the motion is Martine Nadon, who has began with Bell in 1983 as a librarian in this very building. She is now a valued member of our network experience team, leading the team of 19 employees. Mr. President [inaudible] We will now proceed with the vote. I would ask Melanie to review the voting procedures. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As a reminder, earlier in the meeting, I reviewed voting instructions for those voting online. The instructions are also available under the Home tab on your screen in the Lumi AGM user guide available on bce.ca. I remind you that if you have already voted by proxy, your vote will already have been compiled by the scrutineers and you do not need to vote again. Those in person with us today, for users of the handheld voting device, please select the appropriate resolution at the appropriate time. The voting options will be displayed on your screen. Ballot users, place a check mark or X in the box labeled for or against next to each nominee's name. Hold on to your ballot as it will only be collected after the last vote is completed. Thank you, Melanie. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as BCE auditors. Melanie, are there any online questions related to this item? There are no online questions, Mr. Chair. Any in the room? Seeing none, I would now ask Melanie to move for the election of Ernst & Young as our auditors. Mr. Chair, I move that Ernst & Young LLP be appointed as auditors of BCE until the next annual shareholder meeting. Thank you, Melanie. Seconding this motion is Serge Savard, who has been with Bell since 1988 and works as a central office technician. He has seen the introduction of all new technologies since he started and participated in the launch of Internet, high-speed services, and then fiber services. Serge, can you please make this motion? Mr. President, my name is Serge Savard, and I am an employee and shareholder, and I second this proposal. Serge is also the namesake of one of my all-time favorite hockey players, so that's particularly good. The next item on the agenda is the advisory vote on BCE's approach to executive compensation. Melanie, are there any questions with respect to this item of business? There are no online questions, Mr. Chair. Are there any questions on the room with respect to this item of business? Okay, we're moving along here. Melanie, could you please move for the approval of the advisory resolution on executive compensation? Mr. Chair, I move that the advisory resolution on executive compensation be approved. Thank you. Seconding this motion is Annie Ethier. Annie has been with Bell for over 23 years and is a member of our customer experience team, leading and scaling digital adoption across our service teams. She's also heavily involved with our French language community. Annie, can you please second this motion? Mr. President, my name is Annie Ethier, and I am both an employee and a shareholder, and I support the motion. We will now proceed with the vote. The last item to be submitted to a vote is a shareholder proposal. Please note that voting on all these matters will close after this item. I will now invite Mr. Willie Gagnon, a representative of MÉDAC, to present and move the shareholder proposal. Willy, over to you. Mr. President. Willie, I'm sorry. Mr. President. My name is Willie Gagnon, MÉDAC, and a Sud Defense shareholder. We exist for 30 years, I'm here for the last 20 years. We're really happy to see you here today in person. I remind the assembly, we had this proposition of shareholder for the return in person, we're really happy. I remember you were against last year, I'm not going to reread the answer that you gave us, we're really happy to see you in person. We can shake hands as administrators, people are working here, other shareholders and a MÉDAC member in the room. We submitted two pro-proposition of shareholders which were submitted to all the societies in these actions for the MÉDAC account. I'm also acting as a for other shareholders. I propose this. I can second the mention also, correct me if I'm wrong. Two proposition. One, to strengthen the participation of shareholder to the general assembly annual. Last year, for the first time, since we exist, we existed at not the quorum for a company that we are a shareholder. We were asking, why did this happen? We hope that these reasons are not systemic, depending on the hypothesis. We propose to all our society in our portfolio measures to support the participation of the shareholder, stakeholder, which are already in place. The fourth measure that we wanted publication of is just more board so that we could look just one glimpse of an eye to see if the participation increases or decreases. This is what we wanted, a small board or screen. If you would have accepted to have the board, we wouldn't have vote on that. Unfortunately, we were there. It would have been simple. There's only one that accompanies our shareholders proposition that was produced by Broadridge. The data to do this kind of board are available. It wasn't a great expense. This measure is really difficult for a shareholder. It's tough to do by himself. It would be simple for the company to have this kind of board. We invite all of the shareholders, you submit also to framing the AI to preserve the human aspect of the business with the customer and general. You didn't go to vote on this because you say that all policies of AI, respect with BCE, respect the conduct code of the federal government to develop our AI generated system. Notably, we wanted to make sure that you had the same principle for this code also. I understand that BCE did not adhere to this code, but BCE says they adhere to the same principle of this code. We hope that the policies that you have in place on that subject, we understand that BCE is a technological company, and AI question is really important. We hope that the policy in place will avoid these kind of mistakes. We didn't go to vote on that because we feel satisfied by the answer that we were given. These are my comments, and thank you for the time you allow us. Thank you very much, Willie Gagnon. Your work over the years has been very fruitful and beneficial to shareholder rights. Clearly the hybrid meeting was something that you proposed last year, and I hope people are enjoying that. I can assure you on the AI, we're spending a tremendous amount of time at the Board on AI and the issues surrounding technological advancements. The response, of course, is included in our proxy circular. I would ask whether there are any specific questions with respect to the shareholder proposal. I assume there are none online. There are no online questions, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thank you very much again, Monsieur Gagnon. The matters, being submitted to a vote is now been completed. I would declare that the voting on all matters are now closed. I would ask that representatives of TSX Trust collect any ballots. The results will be announced before the question and answer period. I will now ask our President, Mirko Bibic, our Chief Executive Officer, to address the meeting. [Non-Englsih content] Bonjour. Thank you, Gord. Good morning. I am pleased to be here to speak to you about the year ahead for BCE and our strategic moves we're making to drive a total shareholder value on the long term. One year ago, at our 2025 AGM, I spoke to you about the decision BCE was making to strengthen our balance sheet by ensuring that our capital markets approach a fit purpose. In October, we held an investor day. We laid out a clear operating strategy completed with a three final, three-year financial outlook. Today, I'm pleased to say we are firmly in execution mode. Our objective for this year and beyond is to continue to deliver for our customers and our shareholders, guided by our 4 key strategic priorities like were mentioned by Gord in his speech. These priorities build on what Bell has done successfully for 145 years. Connect people to each other, connect businesses to their customer, connect Canadians to the latest technology. Let me expand briefly on how we're delivering against our priorities. Number 1, put customers first. We have more than 240 million direct interactions with our customers every year. Our goal is to ensure we deliver the best customer experience possible during each of these touch points, we're making progress through the use of AI. Customer can increasingly self-serve through our digital tools, including 24/7 AI-powered virtual assistant, while still having the choice and the option to speak with a team member if they prefer. Our second priority, to deliver the best fiber internet and 5G wireless network. Our networks are in the critical infrastructure that powers Canada's digital economy, delivering exceptional value for our customers and our shareholders alike. Bell has an unparalleled customer base in Canada. With 3 million fiber internet customers, 10.5 million wireless subscribers, and 4 million TV and content subscribers. We're one of the only three carriers globally with overlapping fiber, wireless, and media assets. It's a unique combination that gives us a powerful advantage to drive growth and that our competitors can't easily replicate. In 2025, we made a major milestone with completion of the Ziply Fiber acquisition. Ziply Fiber will be a material growth driver for BCE as we continue to build our fiber location in the U.S. In part, thanks to Network FiberCo, our strategic partnership with PSP Investments, headquartered here in Montreal. Our third priority is to lead an enterprise with AI-powered solutions. AI is the next wave of critical digital infrastructure which will power the Canadian economy. As with the telephone and the Internet before, Bell is there. We're there playing a leading role in delivering for the country. In the past year, we launched three game-changing businesses. Ateko, our technology services business, which is actually based upstairs in this historic BCE headquarters. Bell AI Fabric, Canada's largest full-stack AI compute project, and Bell Cyber, our cybersecurity center of excellence. Together, these three innovative businesses are significantly expanding the market for AI solutions and driving substantial growth for the company. By 2028, our goal is for these three businesses, Ateko, Bell Cyber, and Bell AI Fabric, to form a CAD 2 billion AI-powered solutions business. Bell AI Fabric in particular has grown rapidly from a standing start just one year ago. In fact, we launched it in May 29, 2025. It is fast becoming the heartbeat of AI in Canada, offering customers a made in Canada solution comprising our nationwide fiber network, data center infrastructure, software, cloud capabilities, professional services through Ateko, and our leading partner ecosystem. Two of our facilities are already online with more to come this year. Earlier this year, actually, we told Canadians the Bell AI Fabric story through a national TV campaign. I'd like you to take a look and share it with you here. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, no one called it that. We had no idea what we'd eventually be able to do. We just had some machines that made sense to use at the time. Until one day we looked back, and what was once impossible suddenly wasn't. What's more, we're strengthening Canada's AI ecosystem through partnerships with leading Canadian technology companies. Canadian companies, and they include Cohere, Coveo, Hypertech, and Celestica. In March, we announced plans to build the country's largest purpose-built AI data center. The largest in Canada, I should say. I'm repeating it. A new 300 MW facility in Saskatchewan expected to drive significant recurring revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow growth. The Saskatchewan Data Center campus represents Bell's largest ever investment in the province. It will place Saskatchewan at the center of Canada's growing AI economy and generate an estimated CAD 12 billion in long-term economic value, including substantial tax revenues and at least 800 construction, engineering, and technical jobs during the development phase. Early construction work's already underway. Just this week, we announced a team of local and regional construction firms supporting these initial phases, ensuring that Saskatchewan workers and businesses are benefiting from this investment from day one. Just as important, this project has been designed from the outset to respect local communities and the environment. Like all of our Bell AI Fabric sites, the facility will use a closed-loop water cooling system that does not draw on municipal groundwater. We're also collaborating with local universities and the George Gordon First Nation to explore opportunities for waste heat reuse on campuses and in nearby development projects. In close consultation with local landowners, we're working to minimize community impacts through responsible development, including measures to reduce noise, light, and traffic. There's much more to come. Business adoption of AI will only continue to increase, and Bell is more than ready to help Canadian governments and enterprises win. Now to our fourth priority, which is to build a digital media and content powerhouse. Our media strategy is pretty simple. It's to deliver the best content to Canadians when and how they want it. As audiences shift to digital platforms, we're moving with them, and we're unlocking growth along the way. Crave is at the heart of that strategy. Today, we have 4.7 million subscribers, and by the end of 2028, we expect that number to hit 6 million. Over the past year, Crave original content like En Pâtisserie and Heated Rivalry has taken the world by storm, making a lasting cultural impact. This success reflects Bell Media's commitment to invest in Canadian storytelling that connects with audiences at home and that also resonates around the world, and that strengthens our national identity, and it reinforces our cultural sovereignty. Through Crave, we're investing in stories that reflect who we are as a country in English and in French, and I couldn't be prouder of the talent and creativity of our Bell Media team. You don't have to take my word for it. Bell Media earned 202 nominations at this year's Canadian Screen Awards. Against this backdrop of transformation, we also completed a major brand refresh in the last year. Chair mentioned it in his opening remarks. Our brand refresh has a new tagline, and that's: Connection is everything. It's a reflection of a more human, relevant, and connected future. To bring this vision to life, last year, we collaborated with renowned Quebec filmmaker, Xavier Dolan, on a short film highlighting the moments behind every network connection. The film received global recognition, and it won Best Director at the 2026 Brand Film Awards presented by PR Week and Campaign last week. I'd like to share it with you now. That brings me back to what's defined Bell for 145 years. From the first telephones to smartphones, copper wires to fiber networks, and next gen AI infrastructure, Bell plays a defining role in connecting Canadians to work, to opportunity, to the best content, and of course, to each other. It's our purpose: To advance how people connect with each other and the world. Before I wrap up, one more piece of exciting news since we're in Montreal. Two weeks ago, we announced a new chapter for Formula One Grand Prix du Canada with the launch of Bell GPCanada, our rebranded promotion group. This rebranding reflects our long-term commitment to one of Canada's most prestigious international sporting events and showcase in the Canada. The unique ability to Bell to connect sports, media, and live experience to deliver lasting impact for Montreal and Canada. As we close, I'd like to offer my warmest wishes, of course, and thanks to Gord Nixon, who is retiring today as Chair of the Board, as you know. Gord, your steady guidance and leadership over the past decade have been instrumental in Bell's transformation to the company that we are today with the momentum that we have today. I also would like to welcome our incoming Chair of the Board, Louis Vachon. Shareholders have already benefited from Louis' leadership and expertise over the past few years. Louis, I look forward to working with you as the Chair to deliver strong outcomes for our customers and our investor. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mirko. Thank you, Mirko. I will now ask Melanie to provide the preliminary results of the scrutineers' tabulation of today's votes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The scrutineers confirm the following preliminary vote results. All director nominees received at least 97.9% votes for. At least 99.4% of votes are in favor of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as auditors. The advisory resolution on executive compensation is approved by approximately 96% of the votes. Approximately 1.84% of the votes are in favor of the shareholder proposal. Therefore, it is defeated. The scrutineers' final report will be available shortly after the meeting. Thank you, Melanie. It's now my pleasure to invite Louis Vachon, who is the incoming Chair of BCE, to address the meeting and to join Mirko for the question and answer period, after which I will return to close the meeting. Louis? Thank you, Gord. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, before I say anything else, I would like to highlight Gord's remarkable work over the last 10 years. Gord, on behalf of myself and all the board members, I sincerely thank you. Your leadership and expertise have helped BCE through a period of great transformation. It is an honor for me to continue this work and assume the chairmanship of the board of directors of BCE, a company that plays a crucial role in the Canadian economy. It is my pleasure to begin this new mandate here with you, only a few steps away from the National Bank of Canada where I built my career, and join you all today in the iconic Beaver Hall building in the heart of Montreal. Bell has been deeply rooted in Quebec since its foundation, and Montreal, the French-speaking metropolis of North America, remains at the heart of its identity, its history, and its future. Today, we are facing an unstable global economic context. Trade policies, tariff measure reminds us of how complex the environment in which we operate can be. In this context, the role of strong Canadian companies like BCE is more important than ever. They are at the heart of our productivity and our economic prosperity. They strengthen the country's economic sovereignty and stimulate large-scale innovation. In an economy that increasingly relies on data and technology, having reliable, secure, and above all, sovereign digital infrastructure is not just an advantage, it's a fundamental strategic imperative, and that's precisely what makes Bell special. For nearly 150 years, Bell has been connecting people with each other and the world. It has been at the forefront of every technological transformation in Canada: the phone, the Internet, fiber optics, 5G. Today, it's at the heart of the next wave of progress: AI. Bell is at the heart of artificial intelligence in the revolution of Canada. We are developing a robust and sovereign digital infrastructure through responsible investment and lasting partnership. This concerted approach has been instrumental in building a most prosperous country while continuing to develop a robust and forward-looking company. BCE's position is clear. We are here to serve our customers and our investors. Bell has gone through nearly a century and a half of major technological and economic transformation. It has done so by adapting, investing, and remaining faithful to its fundamental mission, connecting Canadians. Today, the company relies on an experienced and committed executive team. It was a clear strategy anchored in a culture of operational excellence and innovation. As Chairman of the Board of Director, I am committed to working closely with my colleagues on the board and the leadership team to continue to provide rigorous governance and informed decision-making aligned with a long-term interest of the company, its employees, its customers, and its shareholders. I am honored to be able to contribute in this new capacity to the pursuit of this mission. I thank you for your trust, and I am delighted to be able to contribute with you to the next chapter of Bell's history. Thank you. [Non-English content] Melanie, can you remind us of procedures, please? Yes, of course. As a reminder, if your question is related to a personal matter and you are attending today in person, a customer service booth has been set up in the hall just outside the room where our service representatives will be happy to assist you. Similarly, for those attending online, if your question relates to a personal matter, a Bell representative will communicate with you after the meeting if you have provided your contact information. To enable as many shareholders as possible to have the opportunity to be heard today, we ask that you limit your time of each question or comment to a maximum of 2 minutes. For those online, as previously described, you can submit your question online, ask a question by telephone, or ask a question by audio only or video through the integrated function of the Lumi platform. Specific instructions are shown on your screen. For those in the room, please come to the microphone. You can ask your question when called upon. In all cases, please state your name before stating your question or comment and indicate if you are a shareholder or proxy holder. The rules of procedure that we outlined at the beginning of the meeting will continue to apply for this question and answer session. [Non-English content] Do we have any questions in the room? Mr. Gagnon? [Non-English content] Mr. President, welcome. Thank you. Listen, I'm here seated since the beginning of the meeting, and I hear more talk of AI than I thought I would. This, one of our propositions that we made that was removed on the base that you have a policy on AI, and I hear a lot of the positive aspect today, obviously concerning AI. There's a secure aspect of this technology also, of this era that we are living, which everybody's seen Terminator in 1984, and we're well conscious of the threat that may happen. Transparency of data is something that doesn't work. The energy question is really the bottleneck about the AI. Needs a lot of energy. Are you aware of this problem that will necessarily come up eventually? The question that brought a documented hallucination of the language model, LLM, like they call in English, which are based on probability of an answer that's given quickly. These models are giving error, ideologic ticket, a bias that's favored by the LLM. It's a big bunch of problems. We accepted to remove this vote or question. We don't hear a lot about the risk that AI represents here today. It's wonderful, a new data center. I don't hear the risk. We do have risks, and they are important, and I would like to hear about the risk. You say yourself that you want it to be trustful, secure and sovereign. Keep the control here. How about this sovereignty if the totality of the shareholders are detained by external shareholders? You understand what this represents. I would have loved to hear you talk today about the risk. Is there an issue? Is there a problem of managing the risk? This can affect the value of the BCE value, but the value of BCE. I would like to hear something on that, if you have anything to say concerning that. Thank you. I can go. Thank you, Monsieur Gagnon, for the questions. I remind you that there's a law on external propriety that applies itself on communications. This is one answer of one of your points. Concerning AI, it's unavoidable. A big part of AI, of course, is infrastructure, technological infrastructure, communication infrastructure. They were always part of what Bell delivers in the country to the customers and to the shareholders. We were always there. We'll still be there. Concerning the risk, we are aware of the risk. Data center specialized in AI. I mentioned that while I was talking. Our development will be super responsible, ecological-wise, and by the responsible usage, we have a clear policy, really strict, that was announced internally, and we'll continue to follow it. Just to give you a bit of viewpoint of discussions we are having. A few minutes, we were talking, all the risk committee, they meet 5x a year, and we talk about AI. The latest discussions, she said it's so important that we would like to talk about it at the board meeting. We share your reality on that. It's obvious. We know that there's a lot of advantage possible with AI. It also opens another aspect, a risk factor, and we are working really hard, and we're aware of that. It reassures me, but when we talk about buying Bell's value, we want to know what you just said. These kind of things, this should be to the shareholder, and I don't represent all of them, but it's important for us to know a company like yours, what you hear on that. I would like to read this one day. You know, I repeat, for so many years, you heard me at the Banque Nationale, the risk management culture at the beginning, this is human question. First of all, humans are taking decisions. Yes, technology plays a big role, but our approach, like here, a great culture of a great organization, a risk management is a human factor, and after that is a technological factor. We need the right person at the right time, at the right place with great training, ethical, and all this will allow us to go through. Technology, everybody sees the technology. It changes so quickly. We need to have an organization that adapts to the changes. That's essential. Thank you. Another question in the room. I see we have a question. We have one question online. Who's reading it? I'll read it. Okay. We have a question in writing from Alan Best. It reads as follows: Good morning, Mr. Bibic. First, Mr. Nixon, thank you for your insightful leadership over many years. Enjoy your next chapter. The dividend cut was painful. As the company evolves from a telco to a Ateko, I am interested to know about the prospects of dividend restoration to former levels. How much of a priority is this objective? When will we see evidence of progress in this direction? Okay, I'll take this. Melanie Schweizer, can you actually read this, the next one as well? 'Cause I think I can answer them together. Absolutely. The next question is in writing from Jeff Carlson. BCE share price has been flat for the past 18 months and is approximately half of what it was in 2022. BCE share performance ranks last among its peers. This poor performance is despite the project management have discussed today, many of which have been well-known for many months, even years. What assurances do shareholders have that your current strategies and so-called improved fiscal governance will have any positive effect on share price? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Carlson and Mr. Best, for the two questions which essentially relate to The share price performance and as well as what can we expect with the dividend. We have to really go back on this a year ago. It is, you know, in response to Mr. Carlson, in fact, it's only really a year ago in February of 2025 where we started to communicate the new strategic plan. In October of last year at our investor day, we really put a lot of detail around that plan. It is a fairly, kinda recent plan, the plan that I outlined in my opening statement that we're communicating consistently to investors. We are in the early days of that plan. We have significant momentum behind it. The, you know, AI we just launched that growth vector in May of last year, and it is growing significantly. Our fiber performance in Canada and the U.S. is very strong. In 2020, we began the very hard work of changing the strategic and cultural approach at Bell Media to change from a traditional broadcaster, where traditional broadcasters are in significant decline everywhere around the world, to a digital media leader. You can see in terms of some of the data that I shared with you in my opening statements, that momentum is clearly there. Actually, Crave will keep on. Bell has been around for 145 years, and in terms of net gain of customers, Crave last year was essentially the largest selling product in terms of net gains in a one-year period that we've ever had. Think about how incredible that is. That's the strategy. That's the operational strategy, and it's actually fairly recent, and it's got some momentum. Now if we go to the share price and the dividend. Part of that strategy is a capital markets approach, a new capital markets approach, and it has three elements. The first element is to strengthen the balance sheet, and we've got progress there. We've optimized the cost of capital, and we started the process of reducing our debt levels, and we have clear targets that we're committed to in 2027 and beyond. The second part of our capital markets strategy is to fund growth. I'm not gonna repeat what I just said. We have the four growth vectors. We're making sure that we're directing investment to further that growth. The third part of the strategy is to you know, re-return capital to shareholders. We signaled in October of last year as it relates to the dividend. We, of course, reduced the dividend last May, a year ago, actually. In October of last year, we said that we intend to return back to shareholders over a three-year period, approximately CAD 5 billion in dividends. If you do the math, actually in response to Mr. Best's question, that signals that we plan to keep the dividend at the level it's at least for the next three years. The funds, by reducing the dividend, the excess cash flow we are putting into growth and into reducing the debt. I hope that answers those two questions, and thank you very much for them. Can I add my- Absolutely. A very short answer. If you look at the insider trading reports, you'll see that I've been buying shares of BCE in the last 12 months. Why? Because I think the share is a good value, and I believe what, you know, in what management is trying to do. That's the shortest and the best answer I can give you. Any other questions? I don't believe there is. There are no further questions online. Okay. I would now invite Gord Nixon to join us and close the meeting one last time. Oh, sorry. I think somebody- Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Sorry. No, no problem. Nicole Beard, proxy holder. Yeah. Oh, good morning, everybody. Hi. Bell has identified data centers and digital infrastructure as key growth areas. Can the board outline how Bell is ensuring it has the skilled workforce capacity to deliver on this strategy, and what investments are being made in workforce development to support long-term execution? Thank you. You wanna take that? Yes. That's one more operational. Yeah, absolutely. Happy to. Thank you for that. Very good question. You know, there's three prongs to our AI strategy. There's Ateko. Ateko is a technology services service provider. Ateko was actually born out of a company called FX Innovation, which is a Montreal-based company, and we acquired it in 2023 from the founders and now that company is now part of BCE. It's called Ateko, and it continues to be led by the founders and an incredible team of employees who are specialists in the technologies that they advise their clients on. We have that fundamental skill set from the founders and the employees we hire, and we've tripled the employee base of Ateko since we acquired it in 2023. Bell Cyber is a combination of the expert network security team that we've always been known for at Bell for decades and decades, combined with cybersecurity experts from a company we acquired called Stratejm, two years ago. It's based in Mississauga, and now that's called Bell Cyber. Fundamentally formed of a team of telecom network experts and cyber experts. As far as Bell AI Fabric, the data center business, it is led by, you know, John Watson and Michel Richer, who are on the executive team. Michel is based here in Montreal, we have a full team of folks who are experts in construction of data centers and operation of, you know, operating data centers. We have a team of Canadian technology companies that work with us, whether or not it's Coveo, Cohere, et cetera, who are themselves in their own right AI experts. We're putting, you know, a lot of attention and taking great care to make sure that we have the management team and the employees to deliver on the promise that we make to our customers in this space. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate the question. Just one more. Jeff Coleman. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Cable repair technician of 26 years, BCE shareholder. In a rapidly evolving telecommunications and technology environment, how does the Board assess Bell's ability to attract, retain, and develop talent? Is there a defined long-term workforce strategy aligned with the company's transformation goals? Another very good question. Yeah. Thank you. No, appreciate that question too. The communications and media industries that we operate in are, you know, in constant flux. Clearly, I mean, Gordon mentioned in his opening remarks that the last five years, particularly as we're going through COVID-19 and coming out, have been difficult for a number of reasons. The technology has changed, customer preferences have changed, some regulatory rules have changed. We have a number of segments of our business that are in perpetual decline. There's nothing that can be done anywhere in the world to change it. Home, the traditional copper home phone, people are disconnecting. Copper internet, you know, low speed internet, nobody wants that. Everyone wants broadband. Satellite TV is not particularly interesting to most Canadians unless they don't have a choice. They want streaming. We're seeing a shift in the employee base in those segments. However, we're seeing growth in other segments of our business that are high growth, as I was mentioning in response to the previous question. A lot of employment at Ateko, a lot of employment at Cyber, a lot of employment at AI. We've got a lot of, you know, technology experts in the customer experience part of our business, where we're trying to constantly deploy new technologies to improve the customer experience. We're making sure in terms of our of how we manage the workforce, that we're getting the right skills in, you know, within Bell to be able to, kinda, activate those growth segments while, kinda, managing digital diligently, of course, you know, the workforce in those declining segments of our business. We have training programs, we make, you know, we have new graduate programs to bring in new talent in the company and develop them as they evolve and as they begin their careers and continue their careers. Those are the kinds of things we're doing. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate the question. Any other questions from the room? I don't see any other questions online. There are no other questions online. Okay. Gordon? Thank you very much, Louis Vachon and Mirko Bibic. Thank you to our shareholders for obviously some very good questions. You know, just one observation. When I think back when I used to cover telcos back in the days as an investment banker, you thought of them as sort of state utilities, rate of return regulated. As you get a flavor today, the industry has just changed so much and so quickly, and the future is gonna be that much quicker. I can tell you, I will now watch as a shareholder, I do think it's an incredibly exciting future. You've got a great team, both at the board, in particular in management who really drive the strategy. 20 years ago, you never thought you'd be sitting at a telecom telecommunications company meeting, be talking about AI and quantum and all the other things that are now discussed at the board. Very exciting. It has been an honor for me to have been part of that transition. As I said, I look forward to observing as a shareholder in the many years to come. I now declare the meeting closed. I'd like to thank everybody for participating at our annual shareholders meeting today. I'd like to thank you for your continued support of the organization going forward. Thank you very much.