This will in all probability be of interest to Canadians only and those
people who wish to read about petty bureaucracy in action.
First of all, I echo the words of Peter Furniss and the opinion of
virtually everyone that I spoke to when I say that this was one of the most
beautiful shows I have ever attended and one of the best organized mega-shows.
Did things go wrong? Of course but, as a rule, they were corrected – and quite
quickly.
The French offered both Phytosanitary and CITES Certificates free of
charge from an office on site. The people in that office were very nice and well
intentioned. However, it is probable that these people have never either
imported or exported a plant in their lives. These people were not from the
Ministry of Agriculture. The people from the Ministry of Agriculture were all
in Beaune on a computer network hooked up to the Museum
of Natural History in Paris. In this way, they checked on species
names, etc.
In any case, people in certain countries require import permits to
bring back plants. Those countries include Canada,
Israel and Australia. The
Canadian Import permit states that one of these 2 statements MUST be on the
Phytosanitary Certificates:
“Material was grown in soil where potato wart disease
(SYNCHYTRIUM
ENDOBIOTICUM) has not been recorded and where, based on official soil
surveys or other precautionary practices, the potato cyst nematode
(GLOBODERA ROSTOCHIENSIS and GLOBODERA PALLIDA) and the soybean cyst
nematode (HETERODERA GLYCINES) are not known to occur."
OR
"Potato wart disease (SYNCHYTRIUM ENDOBIOTICUM), potato cyst nematode
(GLOBODERA ROSTOCHIENSIS and GLOBODERA PALLIDA) and soybean cyst nematode
(HETERODERA GLYCINES) are not known to occur in the country of origin of the
plant material."
In Dijon,
they did not ask for import permits and, when import permits were presented, they
were apparently never forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture. Accordingly,
the Ministry of Agriculture did not know that they had to add these statements.
Therefore, these statements did not appear on most, if not all, the Phytosanitary
Certificates issued in France.
In addition, the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, responsible for
orchids) insists upon Phytosanitary Certificates for flasks. The French Ministry
of Agriculture understands that plants grown in agar are sterile. The Canadians
do not. The Canadians insist on a Phytosanitary Certificate.
Those people arriving from France
in any city in Canada other
than Toronto
experienced no problem of any kind whatsoever. Those people arriving in Toronto faced Wes Kurek
and Judy Smith. (In 2002, I arrived from Australia with a flask and a
Phytosanitary Certificate. Mr. Kurek not only detained the flask but, as he
said, he opened the flask “because I can”. A complaint brought no
disciplinary action of any kind. CFIA apparently encourages petty, vindictive
and arrogant behaviour in addition to apparent incompetence.)
The people who arrived in Toronto
had to deal with Judy Smith. In the dictionary, next to bureaucrat, there must
be a picture of her. Petty, capricious, arbitrary are some of the printable
adjectives that I have heard to describe her. A friend had his plants detained.
Because I am bilingual, I tracked down the French Ministry of Agriculture in
Beaune. I spoke to the people who had signed the Phytosanitary Certificates. They
agreed to re-issue the certificates and did.
They added the first of the 2 statements (“Material was grown in
soil where potato wart disease (SYNCHYTRIUM
ENDOBIOTICUM) has not been recorded and where, based on official soil surveys
or other precautionary practices, the potato cyst nematode (GLOBODERA
ROSTOCHIENSIS and GLOBODERA PALLIDA) and the soybean cyst
nematode (HETERODERA GLYCINES) are not known to occur.”)
This was judged unacceptable by Judy Smith because, according to her, the
French could not know what type of soil the plants had been grown in. When I
attempted to explain to Mark McCombs, general counsel for CFIA, that the plants
had not been grown in soil, he began screaming, “Then why did they say
that the plants were grown in soil?” I tried to explain that the French
had simply written what the Canadians wanted to see verbatim and that, since the plants were NOT grown in SOIL,
stating that the soil did not have the harmful pests was in fact correct. Aubie
Schwartz, senior counsel, proved to be a legend in his own mind. Moira
Nicholson appears to be the only member of the senior legal staff that returns
calls and that can think intelligently.
The French then amended the Phytosanitary Certificate using the second
of the two statements,
"Potato wart disease (SYNCHYTRIUM ENDOBIOTICUM), potato cyst
nematode
(GLOBODERA ROSTOCHIENSIS and GLOBODERA PALLIDA) and soybean cyst nematode
(HETERODERA GLYCINES) are not known to occur in the country of origin of the
plant material."
Judy Smith said that this was no good because the French could not
certify this for Taiwan,
despite the fact that as worded this appears to be the intent of the wording. Now
we have to understand who Judy Smith is. The CFIA is the 1st level
of people who inspect plants. Judy Smith is apparently from the Canadian Border
Services Agency, one step up. Judy Smith insisted that Taiwan amend the original Phytosanitary
Certificates used to enter France.
So Taiwan
did. They used the second statement, i.e. that these 3 things do not exist in
their country.
The plants were then released.
This is all very interesting since orchids from Taiwan arrive in Canada on a regular basis. Every
Phytosanitary Certificate for these plants states that the 3 things do not
exist in Taiwan.
So a new Phytosanitary Certificate stating that these 3 things do not exist in Taiwan arrives in Canada every week, yet Judy Smith
needed to be told again. Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?
I have now found out that every single orchid plant declared in Toronto was detained. Every
plant smuggled in was not found. Is Judy Smith and her petty officious nature
CFIA’s new incentive to smuggle?
Howard Ginsberg
www.bedfordorchids.com
PS A telephone call to Bill Weiler, CFIA Ottawa, a month previously to
tell him of illegal matters was met with lack of interest. Talk about bureaucracy!
