Western Committee on Plant Diseases: Terms of Reference
The Western Committee on Plant Diseases (WCPD), previously known as Western Committee on Plant Disease Control (WCPDC), was organized as one of the four committees under the auspices of Western Forum, in 1976. It functions as an advisory body to provincial government advisory committees of the four western provinces and to other agencies and stakeholders concerned with plant disease control and surveillance within the region.
The WCPD previously published the Guidelines for the Control of Plant Diseases in Western Canada. The guidelines were reviewed and updated annually as part of the Western Forum on Pest Management. As of 2016 the guidelines are no longer being updated.
WCPD Information:
General Policy
The Western Committee on Plant Disease (WCPD) functions as an advisory body to provincial government advisory committees of the four western provinces and to other agencies and stakeholders concerned with plant disease control and surveillance within the region.
Objectives
- Promote the development and adoption of sound control measures for plant diseases of regional concern in the four western provinces;
- Create awareness and understanding regarding the annual prevalence and severity of plant disease issues, and new or emerging plant disease issues;
- Encourage a regional outlook on common plant disease issues;
- Provide a forum for the presentation, discussion and communication of current topics and concerns relevant to plant disease management in Western Canada;
- Promote awareness and knowledge regarding new disease management strategies including new pesticides, and regulatory aspects of plant diseases;
- To facilitate collaboration among provincial, federal and industry agencies to resolve issues related to plant disease management.
Terms of Reference
To achieve its objective, the WCPD:
- Provides a means for regularly reviewing the current status of Western Canadian plant disease issues and where relevant control measures so that information on new disease control products, resistant varieties, regulatory proposals, or other control measures can be evaluated;
- Identifies disease problems where further investigation is necessary to develop satisfactory control measures and indicates what studies are required and where they should be undertaken;
- Alerts plant pathologists and regulatory personnel within the region to new disease problems that are of general concern so that coordinated awareness, surveillance and control measures can be adopted;
- Increases the effectiveness of those responsible for solving plant disease problems by sharing the expertise and experience of the extension, research, and regulatory personnel concerned with disease control within the region.
Structure and Membership Guidelines
The WCPD is open to provincial, federal, industry and university personnel concerned with any aspect of plant disease control in the four western provinces, and other invited persons. The key personnel of the WCPD are the Subcommittee Chairmen and Alternates appointed to head the following subcommittees:
1. Cereals
2. Field Vegetables
3. Greenhouse Crops
4. Oilseeds
5. Ornamentals
6. Potatoes
7. Pulses
8. Shade and Shelterbelt Trees
9. Special Field Crops
10. Tree and Small Fruit (Berry crops)
11. Vegetables
The Official Membership of the WCPD consist of the following representative memberships:
Subcommittee Chairs and alternates, Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary/Treasurer, CropLife Canada (formerly Crop Protection Institute of Canada (CPIC), Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and Editor of Web Site.
The Executive Committee of the WCPD is comprised of the Chair, Vice-chair, and Secretary/Treasurer who are chosen at each regular meeting of the Executive Committee and who serve until the end of the next regular meeting.
The Executive Committee is concerned primarily with policy development, particularly with respect to interprovincial and provincial-federal concerns.
Operating Procedures
- Duties and responsibilities of the Subcommittee Chair:
- The Subcommittee Chair organizes and chairs the upcoming WCPD meeting;
- Subcommittee Chairpersons and Alternates appointed to head the crop kind subcommittees receive and collate their respective disease situation reports and presents these at the annual meeting;
- The Subcommittee Chair distributes their documented summary and draft(s) of revised control recommendations to the official membership of the WCPD at the time of the annual meeting meeting as well as providing final situation reports for posting by the WFPM/WCCP/WCPD webmaster to the WCPD website.
Advisory Personnel
There is a roster of designated (by position or agency rather than by person) Advisory Personnel who may be requested to attend and participate in the meetings of the WCPD at the discretion of the Chairperson.