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 concerned with plant disease control within the region.

Objective

The objective of the WCPD is to promote the development and adoption of sound control measures for plant diseases of regional concern in the four western provinces.

Terms of Reference

To achieve its objective, the WCPD:

 

1. Compiles a set of well-documented measures for the control for regionally important plant diseases to serve as a basis for provincial recommendations.

 

2. Provides a means for regularly reviewing control measures so that information on new disease control products, resistant varieties, regulatory proposals, or other control measures can be evaluated and, where appropriate, incorporated into disease control recommendations.

 

3. 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.

 

4. Alerts plant pathologists and regulatory personnel within the region to new disease problems that are of general concern so that coordinated control measures can be adopted.

 

5. Increases the effectiveness of those responsible for solving plant disease control 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. Vegetable crops

 

2. Forage legumes

 

3. Potatoes

 

4. Cereals

 

5. Oilseeds

 

6. Greenhouse crops

 

7. Interiorscapes

 

8. Ornamentals

 

9. Special field crops

 

10. Tree fruits and small fruits

 

11. Trees and shelterbelts

 

12. Grasses

 

13. Mushrooms

The Official Membership of the WCPD consist of the following representative memberships:

Subcommittee chairmen and alternates, Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer, CPIC member, Pesticides Directorate representative, Plant Health Division representative, Editor of Guidelines, Editor of Slide Sets, and Editor of Web Site.

The Executive Committee of the WCPD is a Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary/Treasurer and an Editor of Guidelines 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 concerned primarily with policy development, particularly with respect to interprovincial and provincial-federal concerns.

Operating Procedures

1. Duties and responsibilities of Subcommittee Chairmen:

1. Each Subcommittee Chairman receives from his alternate and other interested people revisions to the guidelines pertaining to his area of responsibility. He also prepares and maintains a slide set to depict diseases of his area of responsibility.
2. The Subcommittee Chairman receives and collates disease situation reports and presents this to the annual meeting. He also reviews the need for new or continued research related to his subcommittee's area of concern and prepares a statement with respect to research needs, indicating priorities.
3. He distributes his documented summary and draft(s) of revised control recommendations to the official membership of the WCPD at the time of the annual meeting.

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 Chairman.