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. CFIA does not. Therefore, CFIA insist on a Phytosanitary Certificate.

Those people arriving from the WOC 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 1^st level of people who inspect plants. Judy Smith is apparently from the Canadian Frontier Border Services Agency, one step up. Judy Smith insisted that Taiwan amend the original Phytosanitary Certificates used to enter France . This was not an easy task but, with a friend or two and a lot of begging, it was done.

Taiwan 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, approximately weekly. Every Phytosanitary Certificate for these plants presumably 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?

 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! However, all plants for every vendor arriving for the Montreal show this year were inspected. When plants were found in pot from overseas, the vendor was apparently told that this was illegal but would be tolerated this year. Talk about a double standard!