Macdonald Report

The Chief Inspector’s meeting scheduled for November 23^rd and 24^th 1997 in Ottawa has been postponed.  The meeting will be rescheduled sometime early in the New Year.  At that time the Chief Inspectors from all the Canadian agencies will be given an opportunity to review and respond to the new draft of the Plant Health Protection Manual prepared by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for lumber export to the European Union (EU) countries.

To ensure continued access to the European lumber market, compliance to the EU Plant Health requirements remain critical.  This means maintaining properly completed certificates with back-up documentation providing traceability to the original registered facilities.

The grading agency shall monitor each registered participant to ensure that all program specifications are being met.  The role of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is to oversee the export program, conduct audits and officiate in dealings with the EU authorities.

Mail Disruption

We are pleased with the co-operation we are receiving from many of our clients during the postal disruptions.  Alternate ways are available to handle correspondence and several clients have already contacted the office of Macdonald Inspection Services.

Our telephone numbers are as follows:

Toll free: 1-888-331-8200

Main #: (250) 287-4422

Fax #: (250) 287-8840

American Lumber Standards Committee

The American Lumber Standards Committee (ALSC) is the United States grade stamp accreditation authority.  Macdonald Inspection is proud to be one of the original Canadian agencies to be recognized by the

ALSC.

The American Lumber Standards Committee held its annual general meeting in San Francisco, California this month.  Watch for December’s edition of the Macdonald Report for more information.

Historical omission

In our feature report of October’s edition of the Macdonald Report we neglected to mention that Charles DeWitt also served as Chief Inspector for Macdonald Inspection.  We are pleased to have Charlie working with us on Vancouver Island after a brief retirement.