Are you asking me, sir, to respond to that? Perhaps I could say a couple of words, and then others could join in.
This is one of the very distressing aspects of the process that has taken place. Floating out there you have ludicrous, irresponsible allegations directed against us, innuendoes that are absolutely horrific and that are totally at variance with the reality of what happened.
As chair, I have always asked people at these board meetings to treat each other with civility. I call on people to make sure they use parliamentary language and that individuals have an opportunity to speak. At this meeting, which took place on January 7, the meeting began with Mr. Beauregard being extremely concerned about his wife's health. Mr. Beauregard asked me to do something that we normally do not do at board meetings; he asked that he be allowed to leave his cellphone on. The reason was that his wife was in hospital. I immediately said to him, “Sadly, I understand all too well these kinds of problems and this kind of situation. I will absolutely make that exception. Please leave the cellphone on, and if there's anything we can do to help, we will do that.”
The meeting itself was civil. There was a disagreement over a vote about reappointing one of the members of the board who was a foreign member, but that was a normal disagreement and involved two democratic votes. The afternoon was entirely civil. There were no vicious attacks. There was no atmosphere of chaos or stress. We took vote after vote. The president and the rest of us spoke civilly to each other. The president, in fact, voted with the majority of the board on a number of these votes, including one of the last votes, and that was the vote about repudiating these three grants, with which he fully agreed.
Therefore, these accusations that have been floating about are not only totally false, they're incredibly hurtful. One needs to ask what the possible purpose is of these accusations, since they entirely misrepresent the facts.
Other members of the board who are here can also speak about the atmosphere that prevailed on that day and how that day concluded on a civil note.
Thank you.