>>Have you seen the data on this???
>
>Yes, Michel opened his financial books for me and we spent several hours painstakingly analyzing the data. The exact number was 241. (Just in case I'm not being clear, you can read that in a sarcastic tone of voice.)
>
>Of course not. He told me this almost as an aside while we were talking about the UT at his office when it was still in Montreal.
>
>>Do you actually believe the numbers?
>
>First, we weren't specifically discussing JVP. I asked him about the membership of the UT: was it growing, staying stagnant, dropping, etc. He mentioned that in one year (I think it was 2004 but it could have been earlier), several hundred people sent him messages that they were not renewing their membership because they felt JVP had changed it into a much less friendly place. I didn't have any reason to doubt him; he wasn't staying it in a way to convince me, he just threw it out there.

So, now it's getting a bit more subjective. Not quite the hard evidence that your first post suggested. You didn't know any more than anyone else whether these numbers were right. Just Michel's feeling that JVP was responsible. Ok, that makes more sense now.