It's my belief that had Brian Hunter not set up Facebook, had my husband and I not become aware of the group, and had we not engaged in a fundraising process to seek legal counsel, it was the intent of the pan-Canadian committee and Mr. Crawford to enter a vote without their having legal representation and with the hope that the vast majority of the 1,800 families would not be organized or have the sufficient wherewithal to vote no. Most importantly, the parties who were in a position to inform them and advise them were Canaccord, Credential Securities, and National Bank Financial.
Credential Securities is owned by the Credit Union Central, and there were five Credit Union Centrals on the pan-Canadian committee. Canaccord was on the pan-Canadian committee. The pan-Canadian committee in whose interest it was to vote yes, and those sets of brokerages in whose interest it was for the customers not to know and to join them in saying yes, were in a position to control the list. They were in a position to advise the customers to vote yes, contrary to their own financial interests.
This was a very significant situation that we were able to uncover in the last four weeks through sheer hard work, 24/7. I think every one of the members on this panel and another 30 behind them have been organizing, informing, seeking legal counsel, and gathering evidence, all for the purpose of ensuring that they would not be run over by the bus in the vote.
Canaccord only came to the table, in my opinion, because of the adverse publicity and because of this hearing today.