At a raucous annual meeting held today in Toronto, Bank of Montreal shareholders voted with management and overwhelmingly voted down eight shareholder proposals.

The proposals dealt with a variety of corporate governance issues, executive compensation, and more operational concerns. However, according to preliminary vote tallies, the most support any proposal received was 6%. Shareholders also approved the bank’s proposed slate of directors and its auditor appointment for the coming year.

The votes came amid a meeting that saw shareholder activist Bob Verdun repeatedly clash with BMO chairman, David Galloway, and other shareholders. Verdun attempted to read a withering critique of the each of the bank’s directors, before he ultimately agreed to cede the floor to other shareholders. A couple of shareholders rose and spoke in support of Verdun, while several others denounced his efforts.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, BMO chief executive, Tony Comper, allowed that he didn’t like many of the things that were said in the meeting; but, he defended the right of all shareholders to have their say at the annual meeting. He added that the bank is very happy with its slate of directors and the job they do for shareholders.

Galloway also spoke in defense of Verdun’s right to speak, saying that while he didn’t like the attacks on the bank’s directors, he has had some good ideas on improving corporate governance.

In the press conference after the meeting, Comper indicated that he had no insight into what may be in tomorrow’s federal budget, and he declined to elaborate on the substance of recent meetings between the bank CEOs and finance minister Ralph Goodale.

As for bank mergers, Comper suggested that domestic mergers are inevitable. However, he doesn’t expect them to occur in the short run. He also insisted during the meeting that BMO is not waiting to be bought. “We’re not waiting for Godot,” he said.

Instead, Comper indicated that it is looking to buy other banks, particularly in the Chicago area and the broader mid-west U.S. He said that it is talking to possible targets on an ongoing basis, but that it’s difficult to predict when a deal may happen.

In the next three to five years, Comper said, the size and proportion of its business that comes from the U.S. can be expected to grow; and, it’s looking to dominate the personal and commercial banking business in the mid-west generally and Chicago specifically.