GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. (GFP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of GreenFirst Forest Products. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. I would like to turn the meeting over to the Chairman of GreenFirst, Paul Rivett. Mr. Rivett, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Carmen. Good morning. As Carmen said, my name is Paul Rivett, Chair and Interim Chief Executive Officer of GreenFirst. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of GreenFirst Forest Products. Before proceeding with the business of the meeting, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the directors and officers of the corporation: Barb Anie; Sean Willy; Larry Swets; Michael Mitchell; Rick Doman; William Harvey; Marty Proctor; and Candice Bergen; our President, Michel Lessard; our CFO, Alfred Colas; and our Chief Staff, Gwen Webster. We have a number of items of business to cover in today's meeting, as sent out in the notice of meeting. During the meeting, only questions relating to specific resolutions will be addressed, and only registered shareholders will be able to vote on the platform. You will see the voting button on the platform that will allow you to vote. If you have already submitted a proxy to Computershare indicating your vote on each item, you do not need to vote again. Nonregistered shareholders may not participate in their virtual votes, unless they have appointed themselves as proxy holder and have also registered with Computershare. I will now call the meeting to order. I will preside as Chair of this meeting; and Kathleen Skerrett of Gardiner Roberts LLP will act as Secretary of the meeting.

Thank you. I hereby appoint Marissa Beintema of Computershare Investor Services, Inc. to act as scrutineer for the meeting.

Thank you, Kathleen. The secretary has advised me that the notice calling this meeting, together with a form of proxy and management information circular have been sent to each director of the corporation, the auditors operation and each intermediary and registered holder of common shares of the corporation of record on April 6, 2023, the record date for the meeting. I will dispense with the reading of the notice of meeting. The scrutineers have provided me with the preliminary report regarding shareholder attendance at the meeting. The scrutineer's report that there are present at this meeting, in person or by proxy, 49 shareholders representing approximately 145 million common shares, which represents approximately 81% of total number of common shares outstanding. Accordingly, I declare that the requisite quorum of shareholders is present, and I declare that the meeting is duly and properly constituted for the transaction business. I direct that the confirmation of mailing of the notice of the meeting received by Computershare Investor Services, Inc., and the scrutineer's complete report on attendance be annexed to the minutes of the meeting. In order to expedite the meeting, I have requested that certain persons make and second the formal motions, and I will call on these persons at the appropriate time. Shareholders may make comments specific to these motions prior to the vote through the message tab on the platform, but should hold any comments on general matters until the question period to be held following the end of the meeting. The secretary has the minutes of the last Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the corporation held on June 16, 2022, and these can be examined at any time. We will dispense with the reading of the minutes of such meeting. The first item of business is the presentation of the corporation's consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the auditor's report thereon. We will dispense with the reading of the auditor's report to the meeting. As sent out in the Management Information Circular, we will proceed with a resolution to set the number of directors to be elected at this meeting at 9. May I have a motion that the number of directors to be elected at this meeting be set at 9, please.

I so move.

Thank you, Brent. May I have the motion seconded?

I second the motion.

Thank you, Gwen. Is there any discussion on this matter? I will now call for a vote on the motion. If you have not already done so, please vote on this item. [Voting]

I have received the scrutineer's report and confirm that the resolution is passed by the requisite majority. We will now proceed with the election of directors. I declare the meeting open for nominations. In the interest of expediency, I will ask Gwen Webster, being a shareholder of the corporation, to make the nominations on behalf of the management of the corporation.

I nominate those persons specified in the Management Information Circular delivered with the Notice of Meeting, namely, Paul Rivett, Barbara Anie, Candice Bergen, Rick Doman, William Harvey, Michael Mitchell, Marty Proctor, Larry Swets and Sean Willy, to serve as directors of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders, or until their successors are duly elected or appointed in accordance with the articles and bylaws of the corporation.

Thank you, Gwen. I confirm that no notices of nomination of directors were received in accordance with the advanced notice provisions of the corporation's articles. I therefore now declare the nominations closed. May I have a motion that the 9 persons nominated as directors of the corporation be so elected?

I so move.

Thank you, Brent. May I have the motion seconded?

I second the motion.

Thank you, Gwen. I will now call for a vote on the motion. Shareholders are entitled to vote for each individual director nominee separately. If you have not already done so, please vote on the election of each nominee. [Voting]

I have received the scrutineer's report and confirm that each of the proposed directors has been elected by the requisite majority of the votes cast. I direct that the results of the poll for the election of the directors be included in the minutes of this meeting, announced in a press release in accordance with the policy of the TSX, and filed on SEDAR. We will now proceed with the ratification of the appointment of the auditors of the corporation. May I have a motion that KPMG LLP be appointed as auditors of the corporation until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until a successor is appointed, and that the Board of Directors are authorized to fix the auditor's remuneration.