As I said in my presentation, there is a very strong framework that's put in place to manage conflict of interest. But before we talk about the tools, I want to refer to the fact that you don't leave integrity and standards of integrity when you move from a sector to another. The responsibility of individuals serving the governing council is to, first of all, be driven by standards of integrity, and I think that throughout my career I've demonstrated the highest integrity in everything I've done.
Now, in terms of managing what is available in terms of managing the conflict of interest, there is clearly the Conflict of Interest Act, there are the ethical guidelines for public office holders and the guidelines for political activities. In addition, conflict of interest declarations have to be made in a preamble of any agenda of the governing council. Every member of the governing council may be in a position of conflict of interest. Conflict of interest does not belong just to one sector. Every one of us, as individuals...we're all representing different institutions and we all have potential conflicts of interest. So the best way to manage it is to have a strong framework, as defined by the act, and to have procedures, which are indeed put in place by CIHR.
The number of activities that I've mentioned to you follow exactly the same guidelines, where you have around the table very often people representing private interests, public interests, government interests, and we all have to declare any conflict of interest before any decision is made.
In addition, there is something that is very important to realize: the governing council does not make decisions on investment towards any institution or any projects. So the review of funding is not a mandate of the governing council. I think it's very important for this committee to understand.