Good morning, everyone. My name is Aaron Regent, and I'm the chair of your board of directors. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome. I'd like to begin our proceedings by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional territory of many Indigenous nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, and the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. I also recognize that many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples now call these lands home, which are covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. For those of you who are with us virtually, I acknowledge that you are joining us from traditional Indigenous lands from across Turtle Island and beyond. What this acknowledgment means to me is that I am grateful to the Indigenous stewards of these lands who have made it possible for us to gather and have these important discussions. It is also a reminder of my commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples that I'd like to quickly share with you. I'm committed to educating myself about the atrocities that happen at residential schools so that they never happen again and the children who didn't make it home are not forgotten. To help fulfill this commitment as chair, I fully support both the creation and publication of Scotiabank's Truth and Reconciliation Action Plan so that as a financial institution, we can recognize the opportunities we missed to serve Indigenous populations in the past while finding how we can increase prosperity for future generations of Indigenous peoples. I am committed to working to remove systemic barriers that have, in the past, made it difficult for Indigenous peoples to have access to financial services and have meaningful careers in the financial industry. With this in mind, I'm proud to say, as chair, I had the privilege of providing my unequivocal support for the creation of Cedar Leaf Capital, the first Indigenous-owned and operated investment dealer in Canada, an initiative which will create more opportunities to have Indigenous peoples integrated in capital markets. To help fulfill these commitments, I'm listening to Indigenous leaders to better educate myself and understand the role that Scotiabank can play in growing the Indigenous economy and increasing prosperity for future generations. I'm also learning how Indigenous perspectives and values can be incorporated into serving all of our customers. I make these commitments to all Indigenous peoples personally and as chair of Scotiabank's board, and I encourage each of you joining us today to think about what it means to be on these lands as well as your commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Now, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Scotiabank's 192nd annual meeting of shareholders. As we have done in the past, we are proud to offer today's meeting in both of Canada's official languages for all participants. For those of you joining us in person, simultaneous interpretation headsets can be found just outside the entrance to this room. If you don't have one and would like one, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring one to you. English is channel one and French is channel two. For those of you joining us online through the simultaneous webcast, you may choose the language of the meeting in the top left side of the broadcast screen. Sign language interpretation is also available in the room at today's meeting, and we are offering closed captioning on the webcast in both English and French. I would ask that you please turn all personal communication devices to silent or vibrate. I want to extend a warm welcome to everyone either joining us in Toronto or by webcast, and thank you for taking the time to be with us today. We continue to make every effort to host this meeting in a manner that promotes shareholder participation by providing the option for shareholders to attend online or in person and vote their shares and submit questions regardless of their method of participation at the meeting. Now, allow me to introduce the members of Scotiabank's management team who will be presenting today: Scott Thomson, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Julie Walsh, Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Corporate Governance Officer. In accordance with the bylaws of the bank, I, as Chair of the Board, will act as chair of this meeting, and Julie Walsh will act as secretary. I appoint Tara Israelson and Colleen Nielsen of Computershare Trust Company of Canada, as scrutineers. I receive proof that notice has been duly given and that a quorum is present. As such, this meeting is duly constituted. We have a few guidelines on how this morning's meeting will proceed. Please note that in advance of today's meeting, the bank has asked certain employees to move and second the motions for shareholders' consideration today. These individuals are shareholders or proxy holders of the bank, and we do this to facilitate the introduction of motions. Julie will now speak to some of the procedural items. Thank you, Aaron. For those shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who have not voted in advance, voting will be available throughout our meeting until the formal items of business are concluded. To facilitate the voting procedure on the items of business coming before today's meeting, for those shareholders attending in person, there will be one ballot. A ballot will be provided to any registered shareholder who has either not completed a proxy form or would like to vote on the motion in person rather than by a previously delivered proxy. Any person appointed as proxy by a shareholder who has not indicated voting instructions on the proxy form may also request a ballot. If you would like a ballot, please raise your hand now so that they may be handed to you by the scrutineers. Completed ballots will be collected by the scrutineers following the voting on the shareholder proposals. Also, please ensure that you print your name clearly on the ballot and sign it. Instructions on how to submit your votes online are available under the home icon on the top left side of your screen if you are watching the webcast, in the rules of conduct under the documents icon at the top left side of your screen, and also in the AGM user guide located on our annual report and annual general meeting web page. If you are attending in person, please refer to the leaflet that was provided at the entrance to this room. The items to be voted on are the election of directors, the appointment of the auditors, the advisory vote on executive compensation, and the shareholder proposals. Each item of business that will be put before this meeting will be voted on by ordinary resolution requiring a majority of the votes cast for approval. We will provide preliminary voting results during today's meeting, and the final voting results will be available after the meeting. Thank you, Julie. We will be conducting the meeting in accordance with our rules of conduct. I also note that questions may be raised by shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders through the various channels we've made available today. Shareholders and proxy holders intending in person are invited to approach one of the standing microphones in the room or, if easier, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. I ask that you hold your comments and questions until the appropriate time in the meeting. Shareholders and proxy holders are also able to ask questions through the webcast by selecting the messaging tab and either typing the question in the box at the top of the screen or typing your phone number in the box to indicate that you'd like to ask your question orally. For questions submitted through the web chat, I've asked Julie to read out the questions. The agenda for today's meeting can be found in the leaflet that was provided at the entrance to this room and is also included in the rules of conduct. Similar to previous years, we will have a general question period at the end of the meeting. If you have a question on the business of the meeting, shareholders and proxy holders submitting questions online are encouraged to submit their questions as soon as possible during the meeting so that we can do our best to address them at the appropriate time. For those attending online and wishing to ask oral questions, after you are prompted to provide your phone number, please ensure that you also note the subject matter of the question so that we can do our best to address it at the appropriate time in the meeting. To facilitate the timely conduct of our business and to ensure that all shareholders who wish to raise issues at the meeting have an opportunity to do so, I would ask that each speaker be brief and concise and limit their comments to three minutes. Please focus on the topic under discussion at the time. We also request that anyone wishing to ask a question limit themselves to one question at a time until other shareholders have had an opportunity to ask a question. Again, questions should be of a general nature, recognizing that this is a shareholders' meeting. Customer or personal questions can be directed to one of the contacts on the back of the proxy circular, and bank representatives will also be available after the meeting to answer any additional customer or personal questions from in-person attendees. As we will be receiving questions through multiple channels, we do appreciate your patience. If there are several questions on the same topic, we will group these together. We are endeavoring to respond to your questions during the meeting. However, any questions that cannot be answered during the meeting and that have been properly booked before the meeting will be posted with answers online as soon as practical after the meeting on our annual report and annual general meeting web page. For those attending online who are asking oral questions, if for some reason we are not able to address your question during the meeting, please use the web chat to submit your question or reach out to the corporate secretary using the contact information on the back of the proxy circular. On behalf of your fellow shareholders, I thank everyone for your cooperation. Before we turn to items of business, I want to take this opportunity to thank you, our shareholders, for your ongoing commitment and dedication to Scotiabank throughout this period of transition. Scotiabank's leadership team spent much of 2023 refining and refreshing our all-bank vision and strategy, addressing key opportunities and levers with the goal of driving sustainable, profitable growth for our shareholders. Under Scott Thomson's leadership, the bank has taken important steps such as strengthening its balance sheet, improving our business mix to build a strong foundation for future growth. I know that Scott will speak more about the strategy in his preparatory remarks. However, I'd like to recognize how engaged the board was throughout the strategic refresh process. We are highly supportive of the bank's progress to date and our forward-looking vision. As part of this effort, this year, the board hosted an offsite meeting at Scotiabank's headquarters in Mexico where we were able to witness firsthand the strength of that franchise and the growth opportunities in that market that extend across the North American corridor. Remaining closely connected with all of the bank's global operations is highly important for the board, and we look forward to continuing similar visits as the bank executes on our new strategy. This year, I have also continued my regular engagement with stakeholders on a wide range of issues, with particular focus on governance, climate, and leadership matters. Strong oversight in these areas, including on topics such as climate change and diversity, equity, and inclusion, remain an area of considerable focus for the board, particularly as shareholders' expectations against these priorities continue to evolve. I look forward to continuing to meet and engage with our shareholders on a range of issues in the years ahead. As chair of the board, it remains my pleasure to serve the bank and you, our shareholders, alongside a highly qualified and engaged board of directors. We are immensely proud of Scotiabankers across the bank's footprint who continue to work tirelessly to deliver for our clients, shareholders, and each other. Working together under a unified vision, we are excited to see the potential of this organization and everything that the future holds. Before we turn to the first items of business, I'd like to point out that discussions during today's meeting may contain forward-looking statements about the bank's outlook and objectives and our strategies to achieve them. The bank's actual results could differ materially from any expectations discussed. There may also be references to non-GAAP measures. The details of our warning regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures are behind me on the webcast screen. They can also be found in the bank's first quarter report to shareholders. I'd now like to invite Scotiabank's President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Thomson, to address the meeting. Thank you, Aaron, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by thanking you, our shareholders, for your continued support throughout this year. I've had the opportunity to engage with many of you throughout this period, and the bank has benefited immensely from your input and perspective as we shaped our new enterprise strategy. I would also like to thank our team of Scotiabankers across our entire global footprint who continue to work tirelessly in service of our clients and all of our stakeholders throughout this time of change. This year was a year of transition for our bank as we reflected on and reinforced what matters most to us as an institution. We introduced a bold new vision: to be our client's most trusted financial partner. This North Star will underpin our business and culture, ensuring we hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to safeguarding our clients' finances and futures. We also introduced our new strategy, which both defines and focuses our collective ambition. In the context of an unpredictable geopolitical environment, our strategy will enable the bank to lead through uncertainty both as we look to compete globally and as we confront head-on the challenges and opportunities that we face here at home. Our new strategy is guided by four strategic pillars: grow and scale in priority markets, earn primary client relationships, make it easy to do business with us, and win as one team. First, we will grow and scale in priority markets with a focus on North America. At the root of this is more discipline and rigor in how we allocate capital, with the majority of our new investment going to our franchises in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. This is a unique differentiator for us. As a top five bank in Mexico and among the top 10 foreign banks in the U.S., we are the only bank that operates at scale across the North American corridor. And this provides clear benefits for our clients, including for our wealth management and commercial clients, and particularly for those multinationals that are operating across North America who can benefit from a unified approach to managing their business. We will increase value for our clients through greater access to capital, customized advice, support to boost their own competitiveness, and lowering their administrative burden. We are also supporting our clients with their energy transition efforts. At the end of this year, we'll be publishing a more fulsome climate transition plan that will outline how we are supporting our clients, even in the high-abating sectors, to transition to a lower-carbon future. To date, we've provided CAD 132 billion since November 1, 2018, towards our goal of CAD 350 billion in climate-related finance by 2030. We are advancing our net-zero efforts by working to enhance our understanding of our clients' transition planning activities, especially in the industries where we have set 2030 interim targets. We have also enhanced our financed emissions reporting and raised our ambition to reduce the bank's own greenhouse gas emissions. This past year alone, our bank was recognized with several awards for transparency and sustainability, including from Global Finance in key categories across Scotiabank's footprint. We were also pleased to be recognized in the Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine with the highest ranking in Canada in the Morningstar Low Carbon Transition Rating. The rating evaluated more than 250 Canadian companies' exposures to specific carbon risks and opportunities, their management actions, and their sustainability governance. Second, we are focused on earning primary client relationships. To deepen further with our clients, we are emphasizing value over volume as we deliver the entire bank to them. We are pivoting from monoline towards multi-product, client-centric relationships and providing our clients with the right set of products and services to help them navigate the challenges of today and meet their needs of tomorrow. This year, we expanded Scene+ by welcoming Home Hardware into the loyalty program, adding more ways to earn and redeem points on everyday purchases. Scene+ now reaches more than 15 million members, attracting new clients to our bank and helping to deepen our relationships with existing ones. Our Tangerine Bank remains the leading digital bank in Canada and offers our clients a simplified digital banking experience to help them bank how and when they want. It was recently recognized for the 12th consecutive year as the top bank for retail banking satisfaction by JD Power and was named the most trusted among midsize banks. And as we speak about understanding the unique needs of our clients better, we are very pleased to have announced a new initiative that will help us build trust and drive economic progress for our Indigenous clients and communities. We partnered with Nch'ḵay̓ Development Limited Partnership, Des Nedhe Financial LP, and Chippewas of Rama First Nation to launch Canada's first Indigenous-owned and led investment dealer, Cedar Leaf Capital. Once approved, Cedar Leaf Capital will foster greater Indigenous participation in the capital markets, create commercial opportunities for Indigenous communities, and partner with established market participants to assist them in meeting their reconciliation commitments. These are just some of the reasons that we've been named the best bank in Canada for 2024 by Global Finance magazine. Third, we'll make it easy to do business with us. I know this is something that will resonate with everyone here today, including our Scotiabankers. We see the opportunity to simplify, digitize, and streamline the way we do business to create a more efficient organization, leveraging cloud and artificial intelligence to enhance our clients' interactions with us. We are expanding our strategic partnership with Google Cloud, naming it the bank's enterprise platform of choice for the next phase of our cloud acceleration journey. The partnership with Google Cloud, which builds on a series of successful earlier cloud initiatives, will support the bank in accelerating our global data and analytics strategy and elevate the client experience by enabling more sophisticated analytics to incorporate their individual needs. Scotia Smart Investor is a great example of how we are simplifying and integrating the investment journey. It blends AI-powered recommendations and personalized advice in real time to provide clients with product and investment solutions that meet their goals. Innovations such as our award-winning AI-powered chatbot are providing our clients with the information they need without them having to speak to an advisor. Tangerine's differentiated digital offering continues to lead the market in mobile adoption, with 62% of all new signups on mobile. We are also investing in creating a frictionless experience for existing and prospective clients, including those calling Canada home for the first time. For example, we were the first Canadian-based bank to offer prospective clients the ability to share their foreign credit reports when applying for Scotiabank products through a new partnership with Nova Credit. This innovative partnership helps to remove hurdles and creates a clear path for newcomers to make a smooth transition to their life in Canada. Finally, to win as one team, we are investing in our most important asset, our people, and equipping them with the skills to grow, prosper, and adapt to a changing world. Our employees already demonstrate a deep sense of ownership over our future. In fact, three-quarters of eligible employees in Canada participate in our Employee Share Ownership Program, making them personally invested in our success as shareholders themselves. In our most recent employee survey, 84% of our team said that they feel like they belong at Scotiabank. To further support them, we are building and strengthening our culture to ensure that all Scotiabankers thrive. Culture is the foundation on which exceptional performance is built, and this spring, we are working with leadership across the bank to support a new cultural framework. This framework includes refreshed values and new behaviors that are intended to drive a high-performance, values-based culture, which will ultimately accelerate our enterprise strategy. Our already thriving culture of inclusion will be an important part of our framework. Earlier this year, we held our third Global Allyship Summit, providing an opportunity for thousands of employees to challenge bias, confront discrimination, and respectfully value every voice. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the subsequent rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia across our communities has served to reinforce the importance of effective allyship. This past Sunday marks six months since the attacks of October 7th, and in that time, we've witnessed acts of violence against Jewish schools and businesses and expressions of hate against Muslims. I understand and respect there are a range of views on the ongoing conflict, and I also know how personal and painful events in the Middle East have been for many Scotiabankers, their families, and their communities. It is in moments like this we must ensure our engagements with one another are rooted in respect and an understanding that we're all equally human, and that we present a unified message that hatred, bigotry, and discrimination have no place in our society. I'm committed to supporting our employees to ensure they feel safe and bring their best selves forward every day. We also introduced new inclusive standards of care for our employee benefits this past year, putting an initial focus on closing health gaps for women and the 2S LGBTQIA+ community. We were proud to be named to the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index in 2023 for the sixth consecutive year, reflecting our dedication to workforce diversity, gender equality, and transparency in gender reporting. This year, our bank also embarked on the development of a Truth and Reconciliation Action Plan. I am immensely proud to be our executive champion of this transformational effort. This action plan builds on foundational work by Scotiabank that has earned us gold-level certification for progressive Aboriginal relations with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. The journey of truth and reconciliation must be rooted in respect and co-developed and carried out with a balance of urgency and patience. We are working in partnership with an Indigenous-owned consultancy and with internal and external rights holders to deliver a plan with an impact that will be felt for generations to come. When launched, our action plan will outline the formal commitments and steps we will take to advance reconciliation and to establish relationships of trust between Scotiabank and Indigenous employees, clients, and communities. Taken together, the four pillars of our strategy align our efforts and empower our bank to play a meaningful role in unleashing the opportunities facing North America, whether by supporting our clients to help them be more competitive, investing in the energy transition, or building more resilient communities. We are fortunate to live in one of the most secure, stable, and prosperous regions in the world. Over the last three decades, we have developed an integrated North American economy that has increased trade, generated economic growth, and helped improve the standard of living of people across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. With a combined population of more than 500 million people, free trade, first under NAFTA and now under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, has provided us with significant economic opportunities. The GDP of these three countries combined is about $30 trillion, representing about 19% of global GDP and 26% more than the European Union. The relationship continues to grow, with trade flows in the region increasing at an average annual pace of more than 5% over the past five years. That said, we've not always taken full advantage of those opportunities to build an even more productive and integrated economy that benefits all citizens across the region. There's an important role for both the public and private sector to play in supporting North American prosperity. With elections coming this year in Mexico and the United States and soon in Canada, there's a level of political uncertainty that makes it difficult to make the long-term decisions that will ensure our future prosperity in the region. Difficult does not mean impossible. With our experience in navigating shifting economic and political environments across North America, Scotiabank is well-positioned to be a major player as the continent looks to strengthen its ties for the benefit of all. One of the potential upsides to greater integration is increased productivity. Canadian productivity has lagged its OECD peers and the U.S. in particular. Our economic potential is underdeveloped at a time when the world needs us to be aligned, productive, and competitive. We can increase North American economic integration through concerted efforts at nearshoring, reducing regulatory hurdles, and ensuring businesses can access capital efficiently and smoothly across geographies. Creating conditions that encourage greater business investment, the key factor in improving productivity, must be a focus. In Canada, we have the people and the skills. In fact, we've made historic investments in population growth through immigration. That should be a source of economic strength for the country and a competitive advantage. But to realize that potential, what we need now are the investments to match that historic population growth, unlocking the productivity of those people and our businesses. All three North American countries also have ambitious emission reduction targets. While we must move quickly to reduce our carbon emissions, we must do so in a way that ensures our continued prosperity. It is my view that Canada can lead. From coast to coast to coast, Canada is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, a highly educated population, strong governance, and a reliable financial system, all of which are required to both accelerate economic growth and overcome many environmental challenges before us. Our extensive geography and geology allow for a growing mix of energy products. Our production and environmental standards are among the highest in the world, regulated by institutions that ensure industry practices are monitored, measured, verified, and authenticated. Our environmental, social, and governance practices ensure our goods are produced far more transparently than others. Rich with entrepreneurial human capital, Canada is quickly becoming the top country for investments in clean tech. This is now an $80 billion sector unto itself, employing more than 325,000 Canadians with high-paying jobs and home to 13% of the global clean tech 100 companies. This is at a time when the need for new energy infrastructure across the continent, especially electricity generation, is undeniable. And as we move forward through this transition and strive to meet those growing needs, we must leverage all available decarbonization opportunities. A transition to a lower-carbon energy economy needs to occur in an orderly and responsible way, with close partnership between the private sector, government, and institutions to tackle the multipronged challenge of decarbonization, energy security, access, and affordability. This means making significant investments in renewables. For our part, I'm committing Scotiabank to playing a bigger role in this. And where it supports accelerated decarbonization, we should also leverage natural gas as a transition fuel, as we move between fossil fuel and renewable energy sources, especially for hard-to-abate processes, ensuring there is a secure and stable energy source for the grid while transitioning to net zero. We are also committed to enabling Canada's clean tech leadership. We believe decisive policy action, including the prompt supporting of tax credits, carbon price assurance mechanisms, and faster deployment of the Strategic Innovation Fund, will be required in the areas where the biggest differences can be made, including clean tech and carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology. I recognize the path forward will not be easy, and it will require trade-offs. But Canada's potential to reach net zero is there. By clearing the obstacles that inhibit investment in the 21st-century technology and infrastructure, we can link our climate strategy with our industrial strategy to reduce emissions, ensure our energy security, and become recognized as a low-carbon, high-value-add, and high-IP leader in global sustainable infrastructure. But building our pathway to prosperity is more than trade relations and big infrastructure investments. It's also about economic inclusion, which is one of the most powerful forces in supporting a fair, resilient society and an important driver of productivity. To do this, Scotiabank has a long-term commitment to enable and invest in our community partners who are working to remove barriers faced by historically disadvantaged members of our societies. Through ScotiaRise, our 10-year community investment program, we've invested over CAD 100 million in more than 200 community and academic partners to promote economic inclusion and resilience. We are also driving economic inclusion by unlocking access to capital through efforts like the Scotiabank Women Initiative, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. To date, we've deployed more than CAD 8 billion in capital towards our CAD 10 billion commitment by 2025 to support women-owned and led businesses in Canada. We have supported more than 25,000 women around the world to grow their businesses, advance their careers, and take control of their financial well-being, and have so far expanded our program offering beyond Canada to four more countries across our footprint. We firmly believe that this is a commitment of organizations such as ours to lead with a sense of purpose and a clear vision for our stakeholders, one that is forward-looking and enables their success while ensuring that our communities are resilient for whatever their future may hold. With our new strategy as our foundation, we are ready for every future. It will serve as our guide throughout this uncertain macroeconomic period, helping us manage our way forward with confidence as we work to deliver profitable, sustainable growth for our shareholders. Our strategy unleashes our potential to play a meaningful role in addressing challenges within the broader North American context and contribute to both a stronger country and a stronger continent. We have a strong team with the right skills, experience, and passion to navigate the challenges ahead. I would like to thank, again, our people for your ongoing commitment to this bank. Thank you to our clients for your continued trust in our institution. Thank you to our shareholders for your support and enthusiasm about our path forward. I am incredibly optimistic about the future and everything that we are building together. Thank you very much. Thank you, Scott, for that terrific presentation. We will now proceed with the first item of business as set out in the notice of meeting. Copies of the annual report that contains the bank's 2023 financial statements and the audit report therein were sent to shareholders in advance of this meeting. You can also obtain a copy of our 2023 annual report at the entrance to this room or on our website at Scotiabank.com. We will now be taking questions directly related to financial statements. Raj Viswanathan, our Group Head and Chief Financial Officer, is here with us today. As I mentioned before, please use the microphones located in the center of the room, or if you need a microphone brought to you, please raise your hand. Please state your name and whether or not you are a shareholder or a proxy holder. Thank you very much. My name is Bob Seon. I'm a shareholder. I live in Toronto. That was a good presentation, Mr. Thomson. Lots of successes and achievements. But my basic question is, when can we expect the share price to go up? When and by how much? I've been languishing for a while now, and I'd like to hear something a little bit more concrete in terms of where we're heading. Thank you. Thank you very much for your question, and nice to meet you. I agree with you. 1-, 3-, 5-, 10-year TSR has been lagging, and that was the impetus for the strategy refresh we just did. We rolled out the strategy on December 13th. Shareholders, I think it resonated with them, subject to now executing. That's in our hands as management to execute. The first quarter was a good quarter for the bank, and you saw shareholder returns respond to that. Now we've got to keep that momentum up. If we can do that, execute on the plan that we laid out on December 13th, you'll be asking a different question in a couple of years. Okay. Julie, are there any questions online? Aaron, we have not received any questions regarding the financial statements. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We will now proceed with the election of directors. The board's role is to oversee management of the bank, ensuring that strong corporate governance practices are in place. Sound and effective corporate governance is a critical part of the bank's culture and fundamental to our long-term success. Our directors are regional, national, and international business and community leaders with diverse thoughts, perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. As a group, they have been selected based on their integrity, collective skills, and ability to contribute to the broad range of issues the board considers when overseeing the bank's business and affairs. I would like to thank all of our directors for the commitment, hard work, leadership, and counsel to me. This past year, we were delighted to welcome Sandra Stuart and Michael Medline to our board, who are standing for election at today's meeting for the first time. Sandra is a seasoned business leader with over 35 years' experience at HSBC Canada. She has brought extensive global financial services and operations experience to our board, as well as extensive knowledge in human capital management and executive compensation, risk management, and technology. Michael has a strong record of retail leadership and consumer success as current President and CEO of Empire Company Limited and Sobeys. He also brings knowledge of capital markets, ESG matters, and technology to our board. We are very fortunate to have Sandra and Michael on our board. The board of directors has fixed the number of directors to be elected at 14, and I confirm that all nominees are eligible for election. We believe we have a board with the right combination of skills, experience, and integrity to provide strategic counsel to management and oversee the bank's business and affairs. All of our directors are joining us today, either in person or virtually. I'll invite Julie to read the names of the nominees standing for election. I would ask that each nominee who is attending in person to stand as their name is called. Thank you, Aaron. The nominees for election as directors are: Nora Aufreiter, Guillermo Babatz, Scott Bonham, Don Callahan, Dave Dowrich, Michael Medline, Lynn Patterson, Michael Penner, Una Power, Aaron Regent, Calin Rovinescu, Sandra Stuart, who is joining us virtually today, Scott Thomson, and Benita Warmbold. Thank you, Julie. The board looks forward to serving you, our shareholders, this year. You will find information about each of our nominated directors on pages 14-23 in both the English and French versions of the bank's management proxy circular. I now call upon Gloria Lepik to make the motion for the nomination for directors. Mr. Chair, my name is Gloria Lepik, and my pronouns are she/her. Here at Scotiabank, I am the Senior Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and I support the advancement of inclusion for 2S LGBTQI+ employees. I am a shareholder and a proxy holder. It is my pleasure this morning to nominate each of the director nominees, as set out in the management proxy circular, to be director of the bank until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Terrific. Thank you, Gloria. Are there any questions or comments about the election of directors? And again, please use the microphone or raise your hand. Okay. I don't see any in the room. Julie, are there any comments? Aaron, we have no questions online. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I declare the nominations, therefore, closed. The election of directors is the first item to be voted on. If you have not yet voted, please vote now by selecting either the option for or withhold for each individual director. I'll pause here for a moment so people can complete their voting. Okay. Our next item of business is the appointment of the auditor. At the annual meeting held on April 4, 2023, shareholders reappointed the firm of KPMG LLP as the shareholders' auditor of the bank for the 2023 fiscal period. You will find enhanced disclosure on pages six and seven in both English and French of the management proxy circular. The board recommends that KPMG be appointed as the auditor of the bank until the close of the next annual meeting. Abhi Verma and Elio Luongo, representing KPMG, are here today, and it is my pleasure to welcome them to this meeting. Mr. Verma and Mr. Luongo, would you please stand to be recognized? I will now call upon Claude-Étienne Borduas to make this motion. Mr. Chairman, my name is Claude-Étienne Borduas. I'm a senior legal counsel with the bank's Montreal office. I am a shareholder and proxy holder. I move that KPMG LLP be appointed as the auditors of the bank until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll now call on Julie to second the motion. I second the motion. Thank you, Claude-Étienne and Julie. I invite shareholders or proxy holders with questions about the appointment of the auditor to approach one of the microphones or raise your hand. Again, you can also ask a question through the online channel. Are there any questions in the room? I don't see any. Aaron, we have not received any questions. Okay. This item of business is the second item to be voted on. For those of you who have not yet voted, please vote now by selecting either the option for or withhold. The next item of business on the agenda is the advisory vote on the bank's approach to executive compensation, commonly known as Say-on-pay. Our approach to executive compensation is described in detail in the compensation discussion and analysis section on pages 64-116 in the English and pages 67-124 in the French versions of the management proxy circular. Because our annual Say-on-pay is an advisory vote, it is not binding upon the board. However, the board and the human capital and compensation committee will take the outcome of the vote into account together with other suggestions that we receive from you when considering future executive compensation arrangements. A resolution on the approach to executive compensation is set out in the management proxy circular on page 8 under the heading advisory vote on our approach to executive compensation. I now call upon Myan Marcen-Gaudaur to make the motion to approve the bank's executive compensation approach. Mr. Chair, my name is Myan Marcen-Gaudaur, and my pronouns are she/her. I am a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario and proud descendant of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. Here at Scotiabank, I am director of social impact and reconciliation and am leading the bank's truth and reconciliation action plan alongside rights holders both internally and across Turtle Island. I am a shareholder. I move that the resolution set out in the management proxy circular under the heading advisory vote on our approach to executive compensation be passed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you, Myan. Julie, can I ask you to second the motion? I second the motion. Okay. Thank you. I invite shareholders or proxy holders with questions concerning this item to approach one of the microphones or to do so through the online channel. And again, please state your name, state whether you're a shareholder or a proxy holder. I see there's a question in the room. Mr. President, bonjour. My name is Willie Gagnon. Mr. Chairman, my name is Willie Gagnon. I represent MÉDAC. We customarily oppose the adoption of this Say-on-pay motion on the basis of the same argument that we have been raising every year, namely that we believe that the ratio of the remuneration of the highest-paid executive to the median or average remuneration of all employees should be between 20 and 30 times, whereas the actual ratio is much higher. We are becoming tired of repeating this. There's one bank, the Laurentian Bank, that does so. The ratio is about 29 times at Laurentian Bank. We continue to dare hope that the bank will reduce executives' remuneration. We are convinced that if you did so, you would still have excellent leaders. We would invite all shareholders to vote against this motion. Okay. Well, thank you for your comments. And it was seen in our disclosure material the methodology and approach that we've taken to executive compensation. First and foremost, we have to recognize that we're in a competitive market. In order to attract and retain the best talent possible, we need to make competitive compensation. And there's a lot of considerable thought that's gone into the structure of our compensation programs to make sure that it's aligned with shareholders. The vast majority of our executives' compensation are tied up in share awards, if you will. So that to the extent the share price performs, our executives will participate alongside our shareholders. So that's our view. And I appreciate your perspective as well. Okay. This item of business is the third item to be voted on. If you have not already voted, please vote now by selecting the option for or against. The next item on the agenda is the shareholder proposals. This year, three shareholder proposals were submitted for a vote at today's meeting. Shareholders and proxy holders will be given an opportunity to ask questions related to the proposals after the proposals have been presented and moved. The first proposal was submitted by InvestNow, Inc., which you will find beginning on page 120 of our management proxy circular in English and page 129 in French. The management proxy circular includes statements by InvestNow in support of its proposal, as well as the bank's response. Ms. Gina Pappano of InvestNow is with us today. Welcome, Gina. Ms. Pappano, you are now welcome to address the meeting with any comments on this proposal. And please ensure you move the proposal as well. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to present InvestNow's shareholder proposal. My name is Gina Pappano. I am a shareholder of Scotiabank, and I'm asking fellow shareholders to vote for proposal number one. Last year, we asked the bank for an explicit commitment to continue to invest in and finance the Canadian oil and gas sector and for a clear signal that the bank would step away from policies like net-zero that hurt the sector. Fast forward to today. Net-zero by 2050 is currently the number one ideological, political, and financial goal in Canada. Governments and regulatory agencies are creating and implementing policies to phase out oil and gas, and our financial institutions are following suit. This economically ruinous crusade is based on dogma and ideology, not on what's best for shareholders or Canadians at large. This is why we are asking Scotiabank and all the big five banks to commission reports qualifying and quantifying the impacts of divestment from the Canadian oil and gas sector on shareholder value and other relevant economic variables. If Scotiabank continues on the path toward currently established net zero objectives, shareholders have a right to know the true costs and impacts. We are already beginning to feel some impacts of this pursuit of net zero by 2050: carbon taxes, soaring energy prices, emissions caps really, production caps for Canada's oil and gas sector, deindustrialization, and economic hardship for all. So far, the crusade hasn't done much for carbon emissions either. Demand for oil and gas around the globe has only gone up. Increasingly, it is being satisfied by nations far less environmentally responsible than Canada. Our loss in jobs and economic vibrancy has not been the environment's gain. To see the effects of net zero, we need only look to Europe. As countries there have pursued similar policies, many energy-intensive manufacturers of basic materials like chemicals, ceramics, glass, steel, and fertilizers have either gone elsewhere, drastically cut back production, or gone out of business entirely. We believe the banks are charging blindly towards net zero. Pledging net zero by 2050 without a clear and complete understanding of the costs is irresponsible. For individual banks and corporations, it puts at risk the returns of their shareholders. For Canada and Canadians, it risks our prosperity and way of life. Please vote for proposal number one. I move the proposal. Thank you. Okay. Ms. Pappano, thank you for your comments. Shareholders can find the bank's full position on page 121 of the English and page 130 of the French management proxy circular and read about our transition-based net zero strategy and our plans to support our clients in their transition planning. The disclosure requested in the proposal, in our view, is only prescriptive and onerous, including an analysis of the national economy that is far beyond the bank's scope. It's also based upon a divestment policy that the bank does not have. Are there any other questions on this proposal? Julie, are there any questions online? We have not received any questions online on this proposal. Thanks, Aaron. Okay. Thank you. If you have not yet voted, please vote now by selecting the option for, against, or abstain from proposal one. The second and third proposals were submitted by the Mouvement d'Éducation et de Défense des Actionnaires, also known as MÉDAC, which you will find in the management proxy circular beginning on page 121 in English and page 131 in French. The management proxy circular includes statements by MÉDAC in support of its proposals as well as the bank's response. Mr. Willie Gagnon of MÉDAC is with us today in the room. Welcome. We will address the two proposals being voted on first and collect the ballots so that the scrutineers have time to count the votes. You may then briefly discuss your sixth withdrawn proposals after the proposals are presented and voted on. Mr. Gagnon, you are welcome to address the meeting with any comments on your proposals proceeding to a vote. Please ensure that you move the proposals. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. My name is Willie Gagnon, and I represent MÉDAC, Mouvement d'Éducation et de Défense des Actionnaires. I would like to start by a brief comment. At page 129 of the circular, you said MÉDAC has chosen to present its proposals, including those that will be put to a vote, as part of the shareholder proposal process only rather than through engagement throughout the year. You will understand that the shareholder proposal process is fully legitimate. Not only is it fully legitimate, but it is, in fact, enforced since our founder, the late Mr. Yves Michaud, who recently passed away, ensured that a bank be required to receive shareholder proposals. This is the mechanism that we prefer. Not only do we prefer it, but it is legitimate. It has an advantage over informal discussions that it ensures that proposals are published in the circular as well as the bank's response, which would not be the case without this mechanism. I wanted to make this comment prior to commenting our proposal number 2. This is our first proposal. Public disclosure of non-confidential information, country-by-country reporting, compensation ratios, and tax havens. Be it proposed that the bank disclose to the general public on an annual basis the non-confidential information relating to its country-by-country reporting for the purpose of detailed and meaningful calculations of compensation ratios, namely broken down by jurisdiction, and to contribute to combating tax havens, particularly as regards transparency. We are well aware that this bank was the first to publish a compensation ratio last year, but that ratio was based on the remuneration of Canadian employees. Please correct me if I'm wrong. What we would like is a ratio for all employees. One of the arguments that the bank has raised in respect of the publication of such a ratio was that there was a distortion effect because you have employees abroad whose remuneration is not on the same scale as that of Canadian employees. Disclosure of the information in your country-by-country report that you file each year to the government would mitigate this distortion, and we could calculate a ratio that would be intelligible, broken down by jurisdiction. That is the reason why we request that you publish this information. This information is published in a number of other jurisdictions. In your response, you state, "Although we are aware that some jurisdictions are starting to implement country-by-country reporting requirements, we will comply only when such measures are law." We would invite you to comply with these requirements without waiting for legislation to be adopted. There's nothing that prevents you from disclosure of this information. And this corresponds to Canada's international commitment. So we would invite all shareholders to support this proposal. Would you like me to address the next proposal? All right. So proposal number three, advisory vote on environmental policies. Be it proposed that the bank hold an annual advisory vote on its environmental and climate objectives and action plan. This is the Say-on-climate mechanism. We would like to have a similar vote for the same reasons as you hold a vote on compensation. Our proposal does not target the bank. In terms of its policies, you may have good policies, but that is not the point. We wish shareholders to be able to pronounce not just MÉDAC, but all shareholders to be able to pronounce on those policies. It would be a good idea for the bank to hold an advisory vote on its policies. In your response, you said, "We are proud of our fulsome engagement with stakeholders in environmental matters." We are happy that you are proud, but we would be even happier if you would allow shareholders to pronounce on those policies. You also write in your response, "MÉDAC has stated that say-on-climate would replace continuous engagement." We don't think so. We don't think that an advisory vote would replace continuous engagement throughout the year. We believe that this would be an additional mechanism to allow shareholders to express themselves. It would replace nothing or displace nothing, but it would allow shareholders to have their say on the floor of the annual meeting about your environment policy. Then there would be a vote result that could be interpreted. Our arguments are the same as for Say-on-pay. I know that I'm repeating myself. We would invite all shareholders to support this proposal. I would invite you, Mr. Chairman, to make a response if you have something to say on the bank's position. You recommend that shareholders vote against the proposal to have a Say-on-climate, and we'd like to know why. Mr. Gagnon, thank you for your comments. Let me first comment on what you commented on earlier on about engagement. Our approach has been to proactively engage with all our stakeholders on issues and topics that they raise. We find that having a dialogue throughout the year leads to a better understanding of their perspective as well as their understanding of our perspective. Often, through that process, a lot of proposals don't necessarily have to come to our shareholders' meeting. We respect your right to raise proposals as we're doing right now and to have these discussions. Let me start by saying that. With regard to your two proposals, starting with the second proposal on the bank's position, our position is set out in the proxy circular. I don't want to get into too much detail about that. But we do feel that we have adequate disclosure, comprehensive disclosure across a range of areas. And that disclosure by country-by-country is premature, and it's not in the best interests of the bank. With regard to your second proposal, you can, again, see the bank's response in the management proxy circular beginning on page 123 in English and 133 in French. And just to reinforce our position, the bank has already established a fulsome climate action plan, a robust disclosure. And you heard or you can see in our disclosure. You can hear in Scott's remarks our commitment to net-zero by 2050 and the other commitments that we've made both in the interim. So we do not consider a say-on-climate vote to be an appropriate mechanism to demonstrate our commitment to these important strategic matters nor a constructive replacement to our stakeholder engagement program. So that's our position. There's more detail provided in the management proxy circular. Are there any other comments or questions on these proposals? Julie, is there anything online? No questions online regarding MÉDAC's proposals, Aaron. Okay. Thank you. So if you've not voted, please vote now by selecting the option for, against, or abstain for these proposals. Having now completed the formal items of business as set out in the notice, the voting is now closed. The scrutineers will now collect the ballots. Please raise your hand if you need the scrutineers to pick up your ballots. Thank you. Now, as mentioned before, MÉDAC submitted six additional proposals, but withdrew these proposals following discussion with the bank. As part of their purpose withdrawal, MÉDAC asked that the proposals be included in the proxy circular along with the bank's responses, which we've done. You will find MÉDAC's withdrawn proposals and the bank's responses in the management proxy circular on pages 125-130 in English and pages 135-140 in French. Mr. Gagnon, I see that you're still standing. Do you want to make some brief comments about your six withdrawn proposals? Yes, Mr. Chairman. I will be very brief. There are a lot of proposals. I will merely read the title of the proposal and explain why we've agreed to withdraw each. The withdrawn proposal number one is entitled, "Incentive Compensation for All Employees Based on ESG Objectives." The bank was doing what we were requesting. You write that you're continuing to review opportunities to reflect the importance of ESG objectives in our incentive compensation programs. We're very happy with that. Withdrawn proposal two, we wished that annual shareholders' meetings be maintained. We have won a vote with Metro, Air Canada, and CIBC to maintain on-site shareholder meetings. I'm happy that shareholders are here present in person. This is the normal way to proceed. We read in your reply that the bank intends to continue holding hybrid meetings, i.e., including in person. We're happy with that. Withdrawn proposal number 3, disclosure of languages spoken fluently by executives. Last year, we were asking for disclosure of languages spoken by directors. We are happy that this year, you are disclosing these languages for executives. We would have liked the percentage of fluency be disclosed as you do for directors. But we understand that you may change your practices in the future. Withdrawn proposal number 4, societal dividend and better value sharing. You disclose in your response that you have subscribed to the Imagine Canada Caring Company, which requires that you give 1% of profits to support charitable organizations. We're happy with that. That was the objective of our proposal. Withdrawn proposal number 5, reasonable assurance for ESG reports. This proposal intended that the bank follow standards for ESG reports. In your response, you state that the bank continues to monitor changes to regulation and accounting standards as they relate to sustainability reporting. We understand that when those standards are established, you will subscribe to them. Finally, withdrawn proposal number 6 dealt with rotation of auditors. Your response states, "The bank continues to look for ways to enhance its policies and procedures relating to auditor assessment and will consider whether to implement a policy addressing auditor rotation after a certain period of time." That was the purpose that we were aiming at. We had sent you 9 proposals. We are happy with your response to 6 of these proposals. Sorry. We sent 8 proposals. We're happy with your response to 6 of those. And so we're happy with the dialogue we have with the bank, even though we may disagree on some issues. We would invite shareholders to read all of the proposals and the responses. The responses are generally even more interesting than the proposals. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much for that. Okay. So I think the scrutineers now have completed the preliminary tabulation of the votes cast in respect of each item of business before the meeting. I would now ask Julie to speak to the preliminary results. Julie? Thank you, Aaron. We wish to report that the vote returned today is over 45%. I am pleased to inform you that each of the 14 nominees for director named in the management proxy circular has been elected and received in excess of 95% votes in favor. The auditors were reappointed. Over 93% voted in favor of KPMG LLP. The advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation was passed. Over 94% voted in favor. The shareholder proposals were defeated. On proposal number one, over 99% voted against. On proposal number two, over 90% voted against. On proposal number three, over 87% voted against. Thank you, Julie. The final voting results will be available after the meeting. We will also issue a press release as required by the Toronto Stock Exchange that posts results on the bank's website. That terminates the formal business of the meeting. We will now take questions from shareholders and proxy holders. In keeping with our past practice, I've asked Scott to return to the podium and preside over this section of the meeting. Julie will also read out the questions received online and will state the name of the shareholder and the proxy holders who submitted them. As I said before, this is a shareholders' meeting. Questions should be general in nature and related to the meeting. If you have a customer-related question, bank representatives will be available after the meeting to speak with you at the customer care desk outside the meeting room. To give all shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders the opportunity to participate and ask questions, please ask only one question at a time and requeue if you have another question. Before you ask your question, please give your name and state whether you are a shareholder or a proxy holder. Thank you. Hi. I'm Paul Durnan from Burlington, shareholder. Okay. I'm going by the popular business media. It could have some mistakes. You said you wanted to do more in the province of Quebec and British Columbia. You obviously did not want to bid on Laurentian Bank. It was for sale. I don't know what you could buy in BC unless that would be credit unions. Also, in the Latin, there are some Latin markets that have underperformed, obviously, a few. Have you considered exiting those markets completely? I thought I read somewhere that there was at least one that would not let you take profit out of the country. That's kind of disappointing to me. Is that in the realm of possibility, exiting one or two Latin countries? Great. Thanks, Paul. I think this is my seventh or eighth meeting. And you've been here consistently with a question each meeting. So I really appreciate that. Thank you for coming. Your questions are very good. So on Quebec and BC, those are priorities for us, priority markets for us. As we think about the new strategy, the North American Corridor strategy, bringing capital into our Canadian business is priority number one. And we're underpenetrated in both of those provinces. And so organically, we're growing those provinces. And we're making good progress. We decided not to pursue an inorganic strategy in Quebec. But we are going to continue to invest significant capital into those provinces to increase our market share. With regards to your Latin America comments, we have great platforms in our international business. We've got a lot of capital in those markets as well, over $18 billion of capital. What we have to do, back to the first question around shareholder returns, is we have to make sure that we invest that capital that we have there more effectively and more efficiently in a more cost-effective fashion. And so our plan is not to get out of those countries. Our plan is to run them more effectively. And what you saw in the first quarter was actually record results from our international business with actually lower capital. So loans into those businesses were down. But actually, results were the best we've ever had in our international business. And so I'm proud of the team. I think we're making progress. We've got great franchises. And we're going to continue to execute with those franchises in place. Okay. I've got another question. But I'm going in rotation. Great. Thank you very much, Paul. My name is Robin Schottfield. I am a shareholder and a proxy holder. My question relates. I'd like to understand how the bank is going to manage the risk associated with cryptocurrencies. I see them becoming more established in the financial industry. OSFI has issued guidelines as to how you can how much capital you have to put if you start dealing in this. I noticed that I can buy an exchange-traded fund through my Scotia iTrade account. So I'd like to sort of think that maybe the bank's not going to deal at all with cryptocurrencies. But if you are, how are you going to manage the risk? Yeah. We're being very thoughtful on the cryptocurrency side. And I know OSFI's spending time thinking about it. The Bank of Canada is spending time thinking about it. And obviously, our regulators in the U.S. are taking time thinking about it. And they've actually received approval to be included in some of these ETFs. So we don't have material exposure to cryptocurrency right now. We are evaluating whether we should be able to provide the opportunity for clients like you to participate in that asset class under the guise of SEC regulation. And we haven't come to a conclusion on whether that's going to be something that we're going to spend a lot of time on or not yet. So it's a topic of discussion right now among the management team and with the board. If you're asking me, I prefer to invest in Scotiabank shares. I don't want to have any cryptocurrency risk. Yeah. Well, there's immaterial crypto exposure at Scotiabank right now. Thank you. Paul, we're ready for you again. Okay. This is quick. On page 15, earnings by business line percentage. Global Banking and Markets, 18%. International Banking, 26%. What is the difference between Global Banking and Markets and International Banking? To me, that kind of sounds like the same thing. It's a great question. Our global banking and markets business is what we call our wholesale business and our markets business. And so this would be things like debt capital markets, advising clients when they're going to the public markets on either the equity or the debt side, and also advising clients when they're doing M&A-type activities. And so that would be the global banking and markets business. It's interesting because in the international business, there's also a global banking and markets business as well, which is about 30% of the international business. So you've actually picked up on something that's a little subtle. But it's a good question. So that GBM business or the global banking and markets business is a little bigger than the 20% highlighted because some of it's also in the international bank. So the international banking is more retail. Is that the idea? Yeah. It's retail, commercial, wealth, and then global banking and markets in that international business. Thank you. Great question, Paul. Good morning. Good morning. Ronald Saragossa, shareholder. My late mother, Anna Saragossa, was also a shareholder as well as a customer of both Scotiabank and Tangerine. Pleased to hear about the Tangerine being a leading digital banker and wanting to provide excellent customer service. But I wanted to relay some of my concerns about the systems and processes in place when trying to settle an estate. We set up an estate account at Scotiabank, asked Tangerine to transfer the funds over. They asked for a direct deposit form signed by an official from Scotiabank, which made perfect sense to me as a digital bank, and then dropped in the mail without any sort of tracing a draft. That got lost. This happens regularly, I guess, because they have a form for that. When we were told to get the form signed by someone at Scotiabank, they said that they couldn't sign that and take responsibility for that process. At that point, we've gotten no response from Tangerine. Excellent customer service? Not really. And even the complaint process that they have doesn't rise to getting a response. So it's nice that you can come here and tell us that this is what you've got in place. But it's not happening at a ground level for the customers. And it's not attracting customers who have to deal with you to do this. There's no interest then in coming and setting up an account at Scotia. I really appreciate you coming and highlighting that challenging situation to me. I'm very proud of our Tangerine Bank. I think we've got a great opportunity. We do provide great customer service. We do have a good customer experience. And we have an opportunity to accelerate that growth. It feels like in this situation, there's been a drop ball on our behalf. And you're fortunate that you're here today because our head of Tangerine can meet you outside after and help navigate that situation for you. I appreciate that. But any time you have to deal with customers, I realize that you only find out about the complaints at the top when you have a large number that don't. I'm lucky that as a shareholder, I could come to the meeting today and raise it. But it means there's probably a large number of people out there dealing with the same problem and not getting it resolved. But I am grateful that today, you'll deal with it. Yeah. And if you think back to the strategy that I talked about in my comments, being our client's most trusted financial institution is the objective. That's the North Star we're trying to get to. We're not always going to get it right. So hearing the feedback like this is important. And then the second piece of that is making it easy to do business with us. And I think if we can get those two things right, that's a differentiator among Canadian financial institutions. And sometimes, things will go wrong. But if you can address it, recognize it, and move forward, and keep that client intact, that's a sign of success. So hopefully, after we navigate this through, you'll retain Tangerine as your primary bank. And we'll look for better outcomes in the future. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hi. Hi. My time to go. My name is David Peters. And I'm a shareholder. I first bought Bank of Nova Scotia's shares in early 1999. Now, how did I make this decision? In 1998, the other four major banks were all wasting their time trying to figure out how to merge with each other. And at the same time, the Bank of Nova Scotia, under the leadership of Peter Godsoe, put their efforts in trying to improve their operations and the quality of their credit portfolio. I was very saddened to learn during the past year that Peter Godsoe passed away. And I would like to say that he was a very good leader of this organization for many years. Thank you for that. Actually, I was at Peter's celebration of life on Friday. And it was a great experience for me as a new CEO here to see Peter and the support that he had, not only from his family but the Scotia bankers there. And it was interestingly, during Peter's time, I think the bank was the number one TSR performer through his period and grew, at one point, to a bigger market cap than the Royal Bank. And so there's an opportunity here for us to regain that type of luster. And Phil Thomas, who's our CRO, pointed out to me on I think it was December 14th was the day that Peter passed, which was the day after our investor day where we highlighted the North American Corridor. And Peter was the architect behind the investments in Mexico. At one point, he'd highlighted the importance of this North American Corridor. So it was interesting timing that Peter passed on the day that we rolled out this new strategy. So I really appreciate you highlighting Peter's contribution to the bank. He'll be missed. He's left a great legacy. Hello. Yes. There we go. Hello. My name is Kyra Bell-Pasht. I'm a proxy holder. I'm with Investors for Paris Compliance, which is a climate shareholder advocacy group. Among other things, we publish a net-zero Canadian banks annual report card. I'm here again this year to ask the board a question about its $350 billion climate-related finance target. This is featured in the bank's climate plan as a key pillar to achieving the net-zero financed emissions target. And this past year, there has been additional disclosure on what is included in that target, what's eligible. And there are lots of great sustainability activities that are eligible. And there's great progress that's been made, as you've announced. Some of the activities included, like climate adaptation and biodiversity protection, are very important but not necessarily directly related to reducing financed emissions and achieving net-zero across the financed emissions. My question is, does the bank intend to provide additional disclosure in perhaps the coming year about what percentage of that CAD 350 billion is directly related to achieving net-zero? For example, what percentage is related to renewable energy, as some of the other Canadian banks are doing, or even setting a target on renewable energy financing? Thank you very much. Great. Thanks, Kyra. I know that you and I met last year. I appreciate the interactions that you've had with our team over the last year, which has helped inform our disclosure. As you know, we've set interim targets for oil and gas, power and utilities, and automotive that we are striving to attain. You're right. Our CAD 350 billion of commitment goes beyond those sectors and includes lending debt, capital markets, and M&A, to name a few. Details of that CAD 350 billion and the taxonomy were highlighted in the climate report that we released on March 14th. By the end of the year, we will have a climate transition plan that we will publish that will have key KPIs and more detail on renewables. So I think you'll address some of the concerns that you've highlighted. I can't wait to see it and dig into it. Great. Thanks, Kyra. Good luck. Scott, we've received a question in advance from Emily DeMasi, who is unable to attend in person and asked that this question be posed today along with a statement. Emily DeMasi is the regional team lead for EOSS at Federated Hermes Limited in North America. EOSS at Federated Hermes is a leading stewardship provider advising on approximately $1.4 trillion as of the end of Q4 2023 on behalf of global international institutional investors, including company voting advice and corporate engagement. EOSS's purpose is to support clients to be active and responsible owners, seeking alignment between their investee companies and the long-term fiduciary interests of their investors. EOSS represents 51 clients invested in Scotiabank with total assets of approximately $270 million. EOSS has been engaging with Scotiabank on its climate strategy since 2018. In 2021, EOSS, together with other investors, wrote to the bank to highlight the net-zero standard for the banking sector and the TPI net-zero assessment framework against which the bank was most recently assessed in September 2023. First, EOSS would like to commend Scotiabank for the actions it has already taken to address climate risks. In particular, EOSS appreciates the bank's commitment to establish baseline portfolio emissions for its financing activities and scaling up our green financing to $350 billion by 2030. However, EOSS encourages additional steps to clarify our climate strategy. The Canadian government states that its own 2050 net-zero goal will require support and engagement from all parts of society, including provinces and territories, cities, Indigenous peoples, youth, and businesses. Achievement of Scotiabank's ambitious climate goals will be dependent upon implementation of a range of supportive public policies. In this context, EOSS is concerned that in TPI's latest net-zero assessment framework for banks, that Scotiabank scored 0 points on alignment between its net-zero commitment and its lobbying activity or trade association activity. EOSS therefore requests further disclosures to understand the nature of the effort and resources applied by Scotiabank to advocate for the policies necessary to achieve its net-zero strategy. To that end, EOSS is pleased to invite the board of directors and senior management of Scotiabank to continue its proactive dialogue with EOSS to address this climate-related risk. Their questions today for management and the board are: has the bank conducted a review of its trade associations and lobbying activities to ensure their alignment with the bank's own commitments and Canada's net-zero by 2050 goal? And would the bank consider conducting such a review and publishing its results? Thank you. Thanks, Emily, for the question. We believe our engagement with government and regulators, both as a bank and as a sector, can help to inform policy perspectives that support decarbonization. Our 2023 climate report, which was published on March 14th, provides details about the industry groups we are members of that engage with policymakers to advance climate-related progress and support consistent with comparable reporting aligned with evolving standards. Examples include Net Zero Banking Alliance, UN Environment Program Finance Initiative, and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility Net Zero Working Group. We regularly monitor and review the work of those industry groups in an effort to align their positions with our own climate goals. Public positions on our alignment to our shared net-zero goals are also carried through the research we support, including our Net Zero Research Fund focused on decarbonization insights and our report on net-zero efforts in Canada's agricultural sector. Scott, we have not received any questions online. Okay. Thank you, Scott. That concludes this meeting. I would like to say a sincere thank you to everyone who made today's meeting possible. There are many Scotia bankers behind the scenes, as well as translators and the production team, that I would like to acknowledge. I would also like to thank you, all of our shareholders, for attending our annual meeting. I now declare this meeting terminated. Thank you. Have a great day.