Name of Society




International Society for Plant Pathology

(Professor Richard Falloon, President)

Report to ISPP from an Associated Society for 2003-2008.

Name of Society. The Canadian Phytopathological Society / La Société Canadienne de Phytopathologie Established: 1929

Web address for Society. www.cps-scp.ca

Name(s) of personnel preparing report..James Menzies, Past President, CPS-SCP

Nominated Officers. Is the list for your society on the ISPP website correct? (http://www.isppweb.org/societies.asp) /No*
President: Dr. Mary Leggett, Novozymes BioAg, 3935 Thatcher Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7R 1A3, Canada, Tel: (306) 668-8220, email: MLgg@novozymes.com
Secretary: Dr. Anthony Hopkin, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, 1219 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 2E5, Canada, Tel: (705)541-5568, email: ahopkin@nrcan.gc.ca
Treasurer　: Dr. Sarah Hambleton, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, Canada, Tel　: (613)731-2460, email: hambletons@agr.gc.ca
ISPP councillor; Dr. Zamir Punja, Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada, Tel: (778) 782-4471, Email: punja@sfu.ca
ISSP councillor; Dr. Kelly Turkington, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 6000 C&E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, T4L 1W1, Canada, Tel: (403)782-8138, email: turkingtonk@agr.gc.ca

Will a Society member be making corrections to the ISPP entry for your society on-line? Yes/*.

Society Contact: Dr. Kelly Turkington Email turkingtont@agr.gc.ca

Society membership. 432 members in 2006; 413 .members in 2007; 352 .members in 2008.

Report for 2003-2008. (add text here using the headings as a guide…) (half a page)

Society Activities and publications. This information is available on the website; http://www.cps-scp.ca/index.html

The Society publishes the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, the Canadian Plant Disease Survey, hosts the Plant Management Research Report on the website, and has published the following books; Maladies des grands cultures au Canada, Diseases of Field Crops in Canada, Diseases and Pest of Vegetable Crops in Canada, and (on CD) Maladies et ravageurs des cultures légumières au Canada. The society also publishes a quarterly newsletter which is available on the website.

Society Conferences and Workshops.

The CPS/SCP holds a scientific conference every year in conjunction with its annual general meeting. Recently, the meetings have been held in Ottawa, Ontario (the 75^th Anniversary meeting) in 2004, Edmonton, Alberta, in conjunction with Plant Canada in 2005, Québec, Québec, as a joint meeting with the American Phytopathological Society in 2006, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in conjunction with Plant Canada in 2007, and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in June 2008. Future meetings will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba June 22 to June 26 in 2009, Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010, and with Plant Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2011. Workshops are generally associated with each annual general meeting, and are organized by the local organizing committee. In addition, there are 7 regional chapters of the CPS (Newfoundland and Labrador, Maritimes, Eastern Ontario, Western Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia) which hold their own annual meetings. There are two other societies in Canada which have interest in plant pathology, the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants and the Plant Pathology Society of Alberta, and they have annual general meetings as well.

Other plant pathology conferences in Region.. There are numerous conferences in Canada dealing with plant pathology that are not directly organized or funded by the CPS. Some conferences are run by other societies such as the Agronomy Institute of Canada, in which a good portion of the program deals with plant pathology issues. International conferences are also held in Canada which do not directly involve the CPS, such as the 3rd International Workshop on Barley Leaf Blights in 2006 and the 23rd International Conference on Polyphenols in 2006. There is also an annual Canadian Workshop on Fusarium Head Blight. In addition, many members of the CPS also participate in regional and national meetings of the APS.

Plant Pathology in Region. A significant event in plant pathology in Canada in 2008 will be the 100^th anniversary of the Quebec Society of Plant Protection (La société de protection des plantes du Québec). It was founded June 24, 1908 at McDonald College of McGill University in Montreal. It is the oldest society in North American dedicated to the protection of plants.

Education issues are a challenge. Many universities find it difficult to balance the teaching of traditional and new knowledge and technology, and so are revamping their undergraduate degree programs to focus on the new technologies. The result is that many of the students are proficient in areas, such as biotechnology, but lack basic knowledge and skills in pathogen identification or disease etiology.

Retention of plant pathology positions in academia and government is also an issue. As pathologists retire, their positions are not being filled, or are being filled in other areas. This exacerbates the education problem because with fewer plant pathologists in professional positions, it is harder to give students a broad educational experience in plant pathology.

Biotechnologists may work in the area of plant pathology, but do not see themselves as plant pathologists. This has an impact on membership in CPS.

There is an increased emphasis on developing links among academia, government and industry, which has a positive impact in many areas. However, the development of links in research programs can be difficult because of issues around the transfer and spending of money among the different organizations, intellectual property, regulations surrounding employees of one group working in the laboratories of another group, etc…

Funding opportunities Funding issues for Canadian plant pathologists may not be as great as for plant pathologists in other countries. However, funding issues are present in Canada. Academia has seen some increase in funding over the past few years, which has helped in basic research and student training. Government laboratories have not been so fortunate, with funding decreasing in government laboratories or remaining static. This has resulted and will result in positions left vacant when scientists retire or change jobs.

Governments like to have control of budgets, and the ability to change program direction. This has led to governments moving to short-term funding of research programs in academia and government laboratories. It is becoming more difficult to conduct long-term research (>5 years).

Plant pathology in the Region Served by the Society 2003-2008

(1 to 3 pages - A Summary high lighting issues of focus and achievements in plant pathology in the region during 2003-2008 and looking ahead to 2013)

	International Society for Plant Pathology (Professor Richard Falloon, President)
ISPP		CPS