Morning! My name is Brad Corson. I'm proud to serve as Imperial's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and it's my pleasure to welcome you virtually to Imperial's 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. As we begin, I would like to acknowledge that Imperial's head office in Calgary is located on the traditional territory of the people of the Treaty Seven region in Southern Alberta, which includes Blackfoot Confederacy, made up of the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut'ina, and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nation. The City of Calgary is also homeland to the historic Northwest Métis and the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region Three. At Imperial's head office, we have a copy of the signed Treaty Seven as a reminder every day that we work on traditional lands, whether here in Calgary or at our operating sites across the country. We recognize that we all have responsibility to understand our history so that we can honor the past, be aware of the present, and create a just and caring future. Although I will not have the opportunity to personally meet and interact directly with shareholders, by meeting virtually, it does allow us to improve participation and reach a greater number of our shareholders. We are continuing to monitor shareholder participation and engagement, and we are taking steps to ensure that whatever the meeting format, shareholders are treated equitably and afforded a chance to have their voices heard. I look forward to meaningful engagement through this virtual meeting. We are now at our appointed start time, and I will call this meeting to order. I would now like to draw your attention to our cautionary statement, which is displayed on the meeting webpage. It will be accessible with the presentation slides on our website after this meeting concludes, and I would encourage you to read it. To summarize, though, the cautionary statement explains that at this meeting, we may make forward-looking statements which involve certain assumptions and have inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ from these statements. There are also references to non-GAAP measures within the presentation, and related disclosures are at the end of the presentation and on our website. Before we get into the formal proceedings, I wanted to take a moment to highlight that 2023 was another strong year for Imperial. The company delivered solid operating performance, advanced significant growth projects, and delivered value to shareholders through increased returns. Later in the meeting, I will get into the details of our financial performance, strategy, and outlook. While we delivered these results safely and reliably, we were disappointed to have had the environmental incidents at Kearl earlier in the year. We have put in place several mitigations to address these incidents, and I can report that these measures are working effectively. Importantly, I want to note there continues to be no indication of adverse impacts to wildlife or fish populations in nearby river systems. There is no indication of any impact to nearby river systems and no risk to drinking water. We have increased engagement and communication with local communities to share information and understand their concerns, and we remain committed to rebuilding trust with them. I would now like to take a moment to highlight and acknowledge the immense efforts of Imperial's workforce, who are working hard every day to reliably deliver the energy and products society needs, while also working to reduce emissions from our operations. Across our businesses, they are continually looking for ways to improve our operations, and their work has positioned us to deliver the results that you will hear more about today. What's more, they have positioned this company to continue to deliver for the future and support our role in the energy transition to bring to scale the technology that will be needed. It's a real testament to the innovative spirit within this company and is a real competitive advantage for Imperial. In this space, I would highlight that we are building on our expertise and applying it in new ways. For example, we have teams of geologists putting decades of experience to work on future carbon capture projects, as well as lithium. And after more than a century in refining, we are applying that expertise to biofuels. I want to thank every single member of the Imperial team for their dedication, innovation, creativity, and contribution to the company's 2023 success. I would now ask that we review the items of business for today's meeting. Ian Laing, Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, will serve as Secretary for the meeting. I'll also be calling on Peter Shaw, Vice President of Investor Relations, to facilitate questions from shareholders during the meeting. Rita Gutierrez Fernandez and Leanne Branston of Broadridge Investor Communications Corporation will act as scrutineers. All of the current directors of the company, as well as the nominees for election as directors for this upcoming year, are joining us remotely, and the members of Imperial senior management team are with me here in Calgary today. In the unlikely event of a technical disruption before we conclude the business of this meeting, the meeting will be rescheduled within the next 30 days. With that, let's get started. Ian, would you please review the voting and question procedures for this virtual meeting? Thank you, Brad. Today, registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who are attending the meeting have the ability to vote online. For those of you that have already voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your votes, you do not need to do anything today. For those of you that choose to vote at today's meeting or to change a vote already submitted, the poll will remain open throughout the meeting until the last business item has been put to a vote and the chair of the meeting declares voting to be closed. The meeting resolutions will be displayed on the meeting webpage. To register your vote, click on the Vote Here button on the web portal and follow the instructions. You must click Submit following your selection for your vote to be counted. Votes may be changed up to the time that voting is closed. A simple majority is required to approve matters voted on at this meeting. Preliminary results will be announced at the conclusion of the meeting, and final results will be posted on our website and will appear in our public filings later today. For registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders joining through the Broadridge platform, please note that if you wish to ask a question, click within the Ask a Question window found on the lower left portion of the meeting webpage. Type in your name and question and press Submit. Questions will be limited to 4,000 characters and should be addressed to one matter at a time. I also encourage you to submit your questions as early as possible. Questions related to items of business will be addressed immediately before each item is put to a vote, and questions of a general nature will be addressed during the question period after the chairman's remarks at the end of the business portion of the meeting. Please refer to the meeting agenda and rules of conduct document for the meeting for more details on participation in the meeting. Thank you, Ian. Now, what is our first item of business? The first item of business deals with the constitution of the meeting. Mr. Chairman, I can advise that a notice of the annual meeting of shareholders, form of proxy, Management Proxy Circular, and the financial statements, including the auditor's report, were all made available to registered shareholders, to the directors, and to the auditors. I can also advise that a quorum for this meeting is present. Thank you, Ian. Since a quorum is present, I declare the meeting to be properly constituted to transact business as an annual meeting of shareholders of Imperial Oil Limited. To facilitate proceedings, since the meeting is conducted in a virtual-only format this year, I've asked Ian Laing, who is also a shareholder, to move all motions. I will call on him at the appropriate time. The next item of business at today's meeting is the election of directors. Before I call for nominations for directors, I would like to make a few comments on corporate governance. Good governance is critical to our competitiveness and stewards our accountability to you, our shareholders. We continually review our processes, practices, and structures, monitoring for changes to maintain compliance, but more importantly, ensuring that we are applying the right overarching framework for our company. The board of directors is responsible for setting organizational direction and developing strong governance policies. Directors are nominated based on individual qualifications and overall makeup of the board. Imperial's directors and nominees offer a wide range of skills, diversity, and experience, with five out of the seven nominees today independent from the company. Coupled with non-independent representation from ExxonMobil, Imperial's majority shareholder, the depth and breadth of the board offers a balanced approach to effective oversight. Further to composition, the board has five committees, each chaired by a different independent director, to help carry out its duties. This allows our directors to work on key issues in greater detail and better execute the board's responsibility with respect to specific areas. For example, the Safety and Sustainability Committee is critical to the work the company is doing to address the risks of climate change. This includes overseeing the company's key sustainability initiatives, such as the unprecedented Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero Alliance, and projects focused on emissions reductions that will help us achieve our net zero and greenhouse gas reduction goals. It also includes monitoring trends and reviewing current and emerging issues related to our engagement and relations with Indigenous peoples and groups where we operate. From a governance perspective, the board evaluates climate change risk in the context of enterprise risk, and is fully committed to supporting the company's pursuit of a strategy that is resilient to a wide range of potential pathways for society's energy transition, all while growing value for you, our shareholders. To facilitate strategic leadership, Imperial provides the board comprehensive and frequent information regarding relevant and emerging issues, as well as company operations. Finally, compensation for independent directors is competitive and aligns with the long-term financial interests of the board with those of our shareholders. To say the least, Imperial is committed to high corporate governance standards and best practices. This is reflected in our board of directors. So with that, let's move to the first item of business, the nomination and election of directors. All of the seven nominees are with us at this virtual meeting today. Six of the nominees are standing for re-election as directors, and we also have a new director nominee, Neil Hansen. Mr. Hansen is Senior Vice President, Energy Products at ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing board member, Matt Crocker, for his many contributions. Matt, thank you for your involvement and service on Imperial's board. We have benefited greatly by the value and advice you have brought, and we wish you continued success with your new assignment with ExxonMobil. With that, Ian, may I please have the nominations for directors for the ensuing year? The nominees for directors are David Cornhill. Mr. Cornhill is a corporate director. Bradley Corson. Mr. Corson is the company's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Sharon Driscoll. Ms. Driscoll is a corporate director. John Floren. Mr. Floren is a corporate director. Gary Goldberg. Mr. Goldberg is a corporate director. Neil Hansen. Mr. Hansen is Senior Vice President, Energy Products for ExxonMobil Product Solutions, a division of ExxonMobil Corporation. Miranda Hubbs. Ms. Hubbs is a corporate director. Thank you, Ian. Have you received any questions from participants on the nominations? No, we have not received any questions from participants. As there is no further discussion, I declare the nominations closed. May I please have the motion to elect the nominated candidates as directors of the company? I move that the candidates nominated as directors be elected directors of Imperial Oil Limited to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting. Thank you. I will now proceed with the vote. I will pause here to allow participants to register their votes. The results of the resolution will be disclosed following completion of the remaining business of the meeting, once the ballots have been tabulated. The next motion is the appointment of the auditor. Ian, will you please read the motion regarding the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor of the company? Mr. Chairman, the motion is that PricewaterhouseCoopers Chartered Accountants be reappointed auditors of Imperial Oil Limited to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting. Thank you, Ian. Are there any questions from participants on the appointment of the auditor? We have not received any questions from participants. Thank you. We will now proceed with the vote. I will pause here for a moment to allow participants to register their votes. Thank you. The last item of business is the shareholder proposal that has been submitted for consideration at this annual meeting. The shareholder proposal and the related supporting statement is set out in Appendix B of the Management Proxy Circular, and were submitted by shareholder Leanne Bear, as represented by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. This is also where you will find the board's recommendation to vote against this proposal and the reasoning for this recommendation. Chief Adam will join us momentarily and will speak to the proposal and provide the motion. Chief Adam is Chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, which is representing Ms. Bear for this proposal. After we hear from Chief Adam, I will set out the reasons why the directors of Imperial have recommended that shareholders vote against this proposal, and I will then invite other shareholders or proxy holders to comment. We will then report the voting results in response to this proposal. For transparency for our minority shareholders, we will report the results on the basis of all shareholder votes, as well as on the basis of only the publicly traded votes, excluding ExxonMobil. I will ask Ian to read the motion. Mr. Chairman, the shareholder proposal was submitted by Leanne Bear, as represented by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, and is set out on page 109 of the Management Proxy Circular. The motion is, and I quote, "Resolved, shareholders request that the board provide an audited report within a year, estimating the quantitative impact, a range of climate transition scenarios on all asset retirement obligations. ... Thank you. We will now welcome Chief Allan Adam to present the proposal. Our historical meeting protocol is for shareholder proposals to be presented within a few minutes and for the presenter to speak to the motion at hand. Following remarks from the presenter and from myself, we will entertain further questions, if any, and proceed to vote on the motion. Operator, can you open the line for Chief Allan Adam to address the meeting? Chief Adam's line is open. Good morning, Chief Adam. Good morning. My name is Allan Adam from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, and I'm representing the shareholder, Leanne Bear. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation supports this resolution at the Imperial Oil Annual General Meeting. Our First Nation is the community closest downstream from Imperial's Kearl site. We have experienced a tragic loss of life, loss of land, and loss of culture due to oil sands operations. Counter to Brad Corson's remarks, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have found that there are, in fact, impacts to the fish and water, and there are elevated levels of toxics in the Fort Chipewyan water treatment plant. Fort Chipewyan suffers a cancer rate double that the rest of Alberta. We have a rare bile duct cancer that exists pretty much only in Fort Chipewyan. Many people in our community attribute to this, to the oil sands development. As you know, all four of Kearl's tailings ponds have been leaking for an unknown amount of time. Imperial cannot tell us how long they have been leaking, how much has leaked, and how far the leak has spread. The Alberta Energy Regulator hid these leaks from our community for over nine months. In addition to these underground leaks, in February of last year, Kearl had the largest tailings pond, tailings spill in Alberta's history of 5.3 million liters of toxic tailings. Since the regulator refused to deal with the future of the leaking tailings ponds at Kearl facility, our only option is to take this issue directly to shareholders. Imperial shareholders should know that this is going to cost many, many billions of dollars to clean up. The financial liabilities is enormous. Our financial obligation to maintain these ponds is expected to last hundreds of years, but all four ponds in the Kearl site are leaking within ten years of construction. This is already a very expensive problem for Imperial shareholders and is, and is going to get worse. If the cost of cleaning up the asset at the end of the life are not factored into Imperial's forward-looking financial statements, they are not being honest with their investors. Other oil sand companies are already doing this. We are simply asking Imperial to follow the industrial standards when it comes to accounting for these costs. Even Imperial's own auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that these are huge reclamation and mitigation obligations should be disclosed to shareholders. By refusing to account for the cost of cleanup, Imperial is implicitly saying that it has no plan to pay for the cleanup of the site. So I ask you, shareholders, if that's the kind of company you want to own? Voting yes to the resolutions mean that you want a true accounting of the risks, liabilities facing the company and you as a shareholder. A yes vote for the resolution means that you want Imperial to provide a true financial picture of the health of the company that factors in the financial risk of managing the billions of liabilities for cleanups, cleaning up the tailings. That way, you can make informed decisions about where to invest your money. A yes vote means you will want Imperial to be upfront about the legal and ethical risks it faces, as well as the human health risk. Not just to my community, but also to all employees that work in such close proximity to these toxic tailings at the Kearl site. A vote no would be a direct attack on the well-being of our people. I move that the proposed resolution set forth on page 109, Appendix B of the Management Proxy Circular of Imperial Oil in respect of its 2024 annual meeting of the shareholders be approved. Thank you, Chief Adam. I recognize that you are raising concerns that are important to you and your community. We value our relationship with ACFN and other communities, and I appreciate that we have had the opportunity to meet and talk personally on this issue. I am grateful for the time you and your members and environmental experts have taken to work extensively with our team over the last year.... I also appreciate we still have a lot of work to do together, and I appreciate your ongoing collaboration. We remain deeply sorry for the events that occurred and the community fears that stemmed from it. We know that it will take time to rebuild trust. We have worked diligently to address these incidents, and as I mentioned earlier, I can confidently report that the seepage has not reached any waterways, including the Firebag River, the Muskeg River, the Athabasca River, or any other water bodies, including those in the Northwest Territories. There is no indication of any risk to drinking water for communities downstream. Since these events have occurred, we have increased our communication and engagement with our neighboring communities. We are collaborating with Indigenous leaders and their communities to align on improved communication protocols to ensure we are meeting their expectations. And we continue to support site tours and independent water and wildlife testing by all communities. We want to continue the conversation with you and your community, Chief Adam. I appreciate very much the time you have taken to be here today, and very much respect the passion and concern you have for your community and for the Indigenous peoples in Athabasca. Now, before calling for a vote on the motion, as Chairman, I would inform the meeting that the directors of the company recommend that you vote against this proposal. The reasons for this position are explained in the Management Proxy Circular. However, let me summarize the board's point of view on this topic as well. Imperial remains committed to solutions to help society reach its Net Zero ambitions, and have established a goal for a 30% greenhouse gas intensity reduction in oil sands operations by 2030 versus a 2016 baseline, as well as a company-wide goal to achieve Net Zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050 in our operating assets through collaboration with government and industry partners, including through the Pathways Alliance. As we outlined in detail in our 2023 Advancing Climate Solutions report, we consider reputable third-party energy transition scenarios to inform our strategic thinking, stress test assets, and challenge business-as-usual assumptions, including potential timing for implementation and scale-up of lower carbon solutions. Our Net Zero ambition is supported by a comprehensive approach centered on detailed emission reduction roadmaps for our major operated assets, which have been developed considering these scenarios. Scenarios are hypothetical constructs and are highly sensitive to assumptions that will change in the future. Key unknowns include yet to be developed government policies, market conditions, and advances in technology that may influence the cost, pace, and potential availability of certain pathways. Imperial incurs retirement obligations for assets for which an end of life can be reasonably estimated and for which remediation requirements are clear. The fair values of these obligations are recorded on the company's balance sheet as liabilities on a discounted basis. In the estimation of fair value, the company uses assumptions and judgments regarding such factors as the existence of a legal obligation for an asset retirement obligation, technical assessments of the assets, estimated amounts and timing of settlements, discount rates, and inflation rates. Asset retirement obligations are included in our publicly disclosed 2023 annual financial statements, and they are reviewed by our independent auditor. They comply with all legal and regulatory requirements and are periodically updated to reflect changes to regulations, technologies, estimated asset end-of-life timing, and other factors. Calculating asset retirement obligations for a range of climate transition scenarios, as per the resolution presented, would produce a set of arbitrary and hypothetical views of the future, rather than the thoughtful, fact-based approach used to produce asset retirement obligation estimates that are aligned with legal and regulatory requirements. Therefore, we recommend voting against this proposal. Are there any questions from participants or interest in discussion on this shareholder proposal? We've not received any questions from participants. The directors recommend that the shareholders vote against this proposal, so we will now proceed with the vote. I will pause here for a moment to allow participants to register their votes.... Thank you. That concludes the formal business of the meeting, and I declare the polls to be closed. The results of the voting of each resolution will be disclosed after the tabulation of the ballots and before the conclusion of this meeting. We have now come to the point in the meeting where I will spend a few minutes to provide an update on the company. Looking back on 2023, I'm very pleased to report that the organization has delivered another very strong year. Our continued strong operational performance, the positive business environment, and our integrated business model all contributed to earnings of CAD 4.9 billion, the second-highest annual earnings in Imperial's history. We continue to have safe and reliable operations across our assets, along with strong execution of all of our planned turnaround activity. We took decisive action to implement measures to address the environmental incidents at Kearl, including expanded monitoring and increased engagement with local communities. And as I said earlier, these measures are working. We deeply regret that these incidents did occur, but remain fully committed to our relentless focus on safety, environmental performance, and reliable operations. We have a strong portfolio of assets across the upstream and downstream, and we continue to grow value by structurally lowering our unit operating costs and deploying capital in a disciplined manner to progress high-value accretive projects. And 2024 is off to an excellent start as we carried our operating momentum into the new year, delivering an outstanding first quarter underpinned by our focus on safe and reliable operations. As we announced last Friday, earnings for the quarter were approximately CAD 1.2 billion, with cash from operating activities of over CAD 1.5 billion when excluding working capital impacts. Throughout the quarter, all of our business lines delivered strong operating performance, including record first quarter production at Kearl, as well as sustaining high utilization rates across our refining network, including record first quarter throughput at our Nanticoke refinery. Our integrated business model and focus on cost and capital discipline has served us well through a variety of market conditions over the past few years, and has allowed us to consistently deliver value to our shareholders through our reliable and growing dividend, as well as our industry-leading share repurchase program. With regards to shareholder returns, I'm very pleased with the results from 2023, and also very proud of our track record of consistently and efficiently returning surplus cash to shareholders. As you can see from the chart, we paid CAD 1.1 billion in dividends last year, which was an increase of nearly 30% compared to 2022. This also represented our 29th consecutive year of dividend growth. And with our CAD 0.60 first-quarter dividend, we have now nearly tripled our quarterly dividend since the beginning of 2021, and are positioned to deliver our 30th consecutive year of dividend growth. We have also continued to buy back shares over the course of the year, including the accelerated completion of our annual Normal Course Issuer Bid and subsequent CAD 1.5 billion Substantial Issuer Bid in the fourth quarter. In total, we repurchased 8% of our shares for a total of CAD 3.8 billion in 2023, and have reduced our share count by 27% since the beginning of 2021. You, our shareholders, continue to reward us for that. You can see on the inset chart that our share price increased by 14% last year. If you combine that share price increase with the dividends paid, we delivered a total shareholder return of 18% last year. Our share price performance last year reflects a very positive trend that has been sustained over the past few years. That has seen our share price increase by a whopping 212% since the start of 2021. The momentum is not slowing down this year, with our share price already up approximately 25% to start the year. 2023 continued to underscore the importance of energy, reliability, affordability, and accessibility as we work to reduce emissions and support a Net Zero future. Imperial is well positioned to meet the evolving needs of customers while providing value for our shareholders. Last year, we announced our company-wide goal to achieve Net Zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050 across all of our operated assets... through collaboration with government and industry partners. This goal builds on our goal to reduce operated oil sands, Scope 1 and 2, greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 30% by 2030 versus a 2016 baseline. These goals are supported by detailed emission reduction roadmaps for each of our operated assets. The roadmaps prioritize cost-efficient, lower emissions intensity oil production in our upstream, and to transition downstream operations to meet the growing demand for lower carbon intensity and renewable fuels. To meet our goals, four things are needed: supportive public policy, technological advancements, continued investment and innovation, and Indigenous partnerships. Policies in Canada need to support the shift to a lower emissions future while enabling access to affordable and reliable energy. These policies must enable large-scale emissions reduction projects that support Canada's emission reduction goals and ensure Canada remains competitive globally. Beyond supportive policy, we need continued efforts to advance technology, including further investment in innovation. Our sustained investment of more than CAD 2.5 billion on research and development in the last 20 years has played an important role in progressing lower emissions intensity, oil and product solutions. Finally, partnerships with Indigenous communities are critical as we work together to develop energy solutions. We continue to work on building trust and shared prosperity with Indigenous communities in our operating areas. Policy, technology, investment and innovation, and Indigenous partnerships all underpin key initiatives that will help us meet our climate goals. These initiatives include the Pathways Alliance, which continues to be important for Imperial, as well as the entire Canadian oil sands industry and all of Canada as well. In March, an important milestone was reached as regulatory filings began for the proposed Pathways Alliance carbon capture and storage project, starting with the transportation network applications. The Pathways Alliance has been working together to develop and prepare these applications while discussing the project with Indigenous groups, local communities, landowners, and governments. In addition to Pathways, we're progressing other exciting initiatives, including lower carbon intensity production methods at Cold Lake, which we'll talk about shortly. We are also decarbonizing our downstream assets while producing lower carbon intensity fuels for customers and use in our own operations, such as the Strathcona Renewable Diesel Project. There's a lot of work to be done, and we will continue to collaborate with government and industry partners as we pursue these ambitious goals. Now, moving to our upstream business, it was another strong year with net income of CAD 2.5 billion. Our full year upstream production of 413,000 oil equivalent barrels per day was underpinned by record production at Kearl of 270,000 barrels per day gross, the highest year in the asset's history. Kearl also had an exceptional finish to 2023, achieving its best ever quarterly production of 308,000 barrels per day gross. Financial discipline is central to our upstream strategy. We've got a number of opportunities to grow and sustain volumes and lower our emissions while ensuring strong financial returns that deliver value for our shareholders. Similarly, we have several initiatives underway to reduce our operating costs in pursuit of our target of industry-leading unit cash costs. The relentless focus on our strategy enables a robust outlook for cash flows across our assets. I'd like to take a few minutes now to showcase some examples of the great work that is happening at Kearl and Cold Lake. Starting with Kearl. As I just mentioned, Kearl had an exceptional year in 2023, with record annual production of 270,000 barrels a day gross. We have continued that strong momentum into 2024, and as I just shared last week, we achieved the best ever first quarter performance, averaging 277,000 barrels per day gross. I'm especially pleased by this accomplishment because we did have a few weeks of extreme cold weather in January that were actually colder than the period of production challenges at the start of 2022. Despite this extreme cold this January, production was nearly 90,000 barrels per day gross, higher than January of 2022. Then we followed up with record monthly production in both February and March.... Overall, we are now well-positioned to grow our production to 280,000 barrels per day gross in 2024. We have made tremendous progress on lowering our unit cash operating costs as well, through our ongoing focus on improving reliability and recovery. We saw this in our results, with full year 2023 unit cash operating costs being reduced by over $6 per barrel compared to 2022. One example of the initiatives driving these results is the autonomous haul truck program. We are very excited about completing the full conversion of all 81 of our Caterpillar 797F heavy haul trucks to autonomous operation. With this, we now operate the largest autonomous fleet in our industry and one of the largest autonomous mining fleets in the world, which enables us to capture improvements in truck productivity, further enhance our safe operating environment, in addition to reducing operating costs. Finally, and as I mentioned in my opening comments, we have implemented significant expansions to our water seepage interception system to address the environmental performance issues from last year. We've also stepped up our engagements with communities to share information and progress. Turning to Cold Lake, I wanted to highlight progress on a couple key projects that will help grow production volumes, lower our cost structure, and reduce greenhouse gas intensity. First, we are very excited to be on the cusp of achieving first oil from the Grand Rapids Phase One project. In fact, we are starting up the first well today as we speak right now. This project is an important step in our strategy to transform Cold Lake by progressing capital-efficient projects that deliver lower cost and lower emission production. By deploying industry's first use of SA-SAGD technology, Grand Rapids is expected to deliver 15,000 barrels per day of production at an emissions intensity that is 40% lower than the technology in use today, while also reducing Cold Lake's overall unit cost. Second, I'd like to highlight our Leming redevelopment project. For that project, all wells were successfully drilled in 2023, and our focus in 2024 is on well completions and facility construction. Startup is planned for 2025, with the project expected to average about 9,000 barrels per day of production at peak. Leming will use SAGD technology, and similar to Grand Rapids, we expect to be able to achieve an emissions intensity that is up to 35% lower than existing cyclic steam technology. These projects are just two examples of the kinds of high-value opportunities we have in our portfolio at Cold Lake as we work to grow production, lower our cost structure, and transition approximately 40% of the assets production to lower emission technology by 2050. Our product solutions business, which combines downstream and chemicals, had an equally strong year, also delivering nearly CAD 2.5 billion in net income, and once again, demonstrating resilience through the cycle. We've long focused on the efficient execution of turnarounds at our refineries and chemical plant, and this certainly paid off in 2023, as we were able to maintain high refinery throughput and utilization in a year that saw several large turnarounds at our sites, including the largest turnaround ever undertaken by our Sarnia site in terms of scope, workforce size, and total spend. I'd like to recognize the hard work of all of our team for not only delivering this exceptional outcome, but doing so in a way that ensured nobody got hurt. I also wanted to highlight the continued strong performance of our retail brand in the market. Based on recently published data, our Esso brand has now achieved the leading market share in Canada on a standalone basis. This builds on our previous position of holding the leading market share when combining our two retail brands, Esso and Mobil. This significant achievement has been enabled by the hard work our teams have put in to build and develop strategic partnerships with best-in-class convenience retailers, as well as Canada's largest customer loyalty program, PC Optimum. I'm very proud of this achievement, and we're committed to continuing to enhance our brand and product offering to further strengthen our market position. Our relentless focus on growing margin and profitable volumes leverages our unique levels of integration.... Our integration, whether it be between upstream and downstream, between refining and chemicals, or between our two Ontario refineries, provides us with the flexibility and capability to respond to changing market conditions, to ensure we're maximizing the value of every molecule moving through our entire value chain. We are very excited about our Strathcona Renewable Diesel project, which, when completed, will be Canada's largest, producing 20,000 barrels a day of renewable diesel. The project is expected to produce more than 1 billion liters of renewable diesel annually, primarily from locally grown feedstocks, and reduce CO₂ in Canada's transportation sector by approximately 3 megatonnes when compared to conventional fuels. In addition to the emissions benefits for Canada, this is also an economically advantaged project for Imperial, with several unique attributes. Firstly, being situated at our Strathcona refinery near Edmonton, we are in close proximity to low carbon intensity feedstock. This project will also use blue hydrogen supply, making our renewable diesel even further advantaged from a carbon intensity perspective. We're using proprietary ExxonMobil catalyst technology that has yield and quality advantages, such as improved dewaxing capabilities, which will enable the fuel to be used year-round, even during Canada's harsh winters. Finally, the project is economically advantaged since it is tied into existing infrastructure at our largest refinery, and will utilize our existing distribution networks, and also leverage the strong customer relationships we built in our downstream business, including with many of whom are looking to renewable fuels to help meet their own emission reduction goals. This is a very exciting triple-win project, as not only does it help Canada and our customers reduce emissions, but it is also accretive to Imperial and our shareholders. Currently, construction at Strathcona is progressing well, with several milestones achieved in 2023. We completed all primary infrastructure work and above ground tank installation, and have also recently completed the installation of the primary reactor, which is the photo you see on this slide. With a stream of equipment modules arriving at site, I'm really excited to see the incredible progress that has taken place since my visit to the site just a few months ago. Before I wrap up, I wanted to reiterate our capital allocation priorities. We remain fully committed to the principle of returning surplus cash to our shareholders, and you have certainly seen that in our actions. The cornerstone of our commitment is to have a reliable and growing dividend. In the upper left, the blue bars reflect the dividends paid per share over the past several years, and the orange line shows the number of outstanding shares. Looking at the dividend, with the announcement to increase our dividend by 20% during our fourth quarter 2023 earnings call, we have nearly tripled our quarterly dividend since the beginning of 2021, and we are now positioned to deliver our 30th consecutive year of dividend growth. Beyond the dividend, we also have a long history of returning surplus cash to shareholders through buying back our shares. As I mentioned earlier, we bought back a significant number of shares over the past few years, reducing our outstanding share count by 27% since the start of 2021. In total, we returned $4.9 billion of cash to shareholders in 2023, our second highest year for shareholder returns, following our record $7 billion in 2022. Looking ahead, we remain committed to our long history of returning surplus cash to our shareholders. I'd like to finish by summarizing the strengths of our company and the compelling reasons behind a strong future for Imperial. Our strategy is focused on continuing to leverage the integrated nature of our businesses and maximizing the value from our existing assets. In the upstream, our long life, low decline assets provide an excellent foundation for decades of further optimization and growth. In the downstream, our portfolio of Canadian assets is structurally advantaged and fully integrated across the value chain, ensuring overall resilience across a range of market conditions. We continue to develop projects that are highly capital efficient, with an eye towards optionality and ensuring our portfolio remains competitive across a range of scenarios. We are squarely focused on increasing shareholder value, which is supported by our disciplined financial management and our industry-leading balance sheet, and our actions reinforce this commitment. We see the need for effective strategies and solutions to supply affordable, accessible, reliable energy while reducing emissions in support of a net zero future. Through collaboration with government, industry, and communities, we're confident that we can find solutions that continue to deliver value for our shareholders. Stepping back, when I look at our portfolio of assets, our integrated business model, our pipeline of high-value growth projects, and the plans behind our net zero ambition, I feel that we are on very solid footing to deliver superior shareholder value. All of our achievements in 2023, and our commitments for the future, are only made possible by the dedication of our entire team. The engine behind Imperial is our people, and I'd like to personally express my thanks to all of them. I'd also like to thank our business partners, including contractors, suppliers, and customers, for playing such a key role in our success. Finally, I'd like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued interest and support in this great company. Let's now move to the question period. If you have not done so yet, please submit your questions using the Ask a Question section of the meeting webpage. I would like to remind you that questions should be of interest to all shareholders and not of a personal nature. If your question is related to a personal matter, I recommend that you submit your questions separately after the annual meeting by contacting Investor Relations by email at investor.relations@esso.ca. In the event that multiple questions of a similar nature are submitted, we will aggregate those questions and provide a single, comprehensive response. We will endeavor to answer all of the questions submitted, but in the event that time does not permit, we will address any unanswered questions on our website shortly after the meeting. I will ask Peter Shaw to read out any questions, if we have received any. Mr. Chairman, there are no questions. Very good. Well, thank you for your participation. Before we conclude, let me ask Ian to present the scrutineers' report on the number of shares and shareholders represented at the meeting and the preliminary results of the balloting. The scrutineers have preliminarily reported that the proxies counted total 91.21% of the shares, representing 4.77% of the registered shareholders of the company. Also, 71.07% of the minority shares are represented by proxy. The scrutineers have also reported on the balloting, and they have informed that the director nominees named in the company's Management Proxy Circular have been elected as directors. PricewaterhouseCoopers have been reappointed as the auditors, and the shareholder proposal to report on the impact of climate transition scenarios on asset retirement obligations has been defeated. As Brad noted earlier, I will report the results of the shareholder proposal on the basis of all shareholder votes, as well as on the basis of only the publicly traded votes, excluding ExxonMobil. For the shareholder proposal, if you look at the entire voting share of the population, the proposal was opposed by approximately 95.68% of the votes cast and was supported by approximately 4.32% of the votes cast. If you only look at the publicly traded shares, excluding ExxonMobil, the proposal was opposed by 81.20% of the votes cast, and supported by 18.80%. Final voting results will be made available on the Imperial website and will appear in our SEDAR+ filing later today. Thank you, Ian. Before we close, I would like to thank our board, and would also like to thank Imperial's management team for their continued support and leadership. This marks the fifth annual meeting that I have presided over, and I'm very proud of what our organization has accomplished during that time. At the start of this period, we had entered into a global pandemic that brought unprecedented business challenges. We managed through COVID and endured our worst financial results in our more than 140-year history. We then rebounded to reach the best ever years in the company's history, all while protecting and increasing shareholder returns, underpinned by a strong share price and dividend. During this time, we have achieved significant transformations at Kearl, delivering steady production growth. We advanced key technology to support emission reductions across our businesses, including breaking ground on Canada's largest renewable diesel facility, and our retail brand is now number one in the country. In support of our commitment to lower emissions, we also announced a company-wide goal to achieve Net Zero emissions and are a founding member of the Pathways Alliance, a coalition of oil sands producers working together to support Canada's Net Zero goals. I wanted to again highlight these achievements. They are not only important milestones in our recent performance, but together, they strategically position the company for the future to continue to provide reliable and affordable energy to support society's needs, while continuing to reduce emissions and generate value for you, our shareholders. I look forward to sharing more progress of our continued achievements and success with you in the future. Thank you for joining us today. The shareholders meeting is now concluded. This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day.