Yes, certainly.
We've had over 3,700 signatures on an online petition that has been up for less than two weeks. The breadth of people who have signed it is remarkable. Many members of the lay public are signing it and routinely framing their concern as one of conflict of interest. So they get the problem.
There are also a whole lot of doctors, physicians, professors, and researchers who are signing. These people don't tend to be petition signers, so I was surprised to find that there are approximately 1,000 people out of those who gave their titles who fall under the category of doctor or professor. And I think that's very significant. They're also identifying themselves as active CIHR researchers. Many active CIHR researchers have signed a petition that is opposed to this appointment.
We also have a number of very distinguished individuals who have signed it, including for example James Till, whom you may know as a co-discoverer of stem cells. He demonstrated that stem cells exist.
Another interesting group is people who support commercialization and who explicitly state that they support commercialization of research. They partner with industry in their research. They say that, and then they say, “But pharma does not belong at the governance table.” They're the ones saying, “Look, put them on advisory committees. That's all well and good and important information to get.”
I sat down with a researcher who I associate with commercialization. He's one of the people I know most who do commercialization. I asked him about this when it first came out, and he looked at me and said, “Absolutely not.” That's purely on the basis of conflict of interest.
That takes me to the issue of the one in seventeen point. It's really important to recognize that conflict of interest is not only about actual conflict but also about perceived conflict. One in seventeen... Just look at the petition comments. Many comments have been made. One in seventeen poisons the well with respect to perceived conflicts of interest on the CIHR governing council. And it's a real threat to the reputation of the institution.