Thank you, gentlemen, for being here. I have a couple of questions. The first one is more specific, and the other one is general.
I represent fruit growers in the southern part of the Okanagan in British Columbia. We had a problem. It wasn't a major problem, but it was a problem for some of the fruit growers and cherry growers this summer in regard to the fruit fly and Taiwan, which I'm sure you're familiar with.
The problem was that the shipment was stopped before being exported to Taiwan because of the fact that the fruit fly was discovered. I'm not sure what the term is, but it's not an item that is specifically in the agreement; in other words, it can be passed. The reason for this was that it resembled the apple maggot, which is a quarantined item in Taiwan. In talking to your officials, I learned this was a precautionary measure.
Now, the question is this. One farmer I talked to was upset because this wasn't a quarantined item and yet his shipment was lost. He had to basically repack and do it all over again. That's the rule. Could you clarify or shed some light on this?
The other thing is this. If we have to determine whether it's the apple maggot or the fruit fly, is there some way of doing it quickly? As it stands now, I believe it has to be sent to a laboratory in Winnipeg or somewhere for a test to ensure it's not the apple maggot.
We may see this more and more, because apple maggot is creeping north and invading our sovereignty, so to speak, or this may only have been an initial case. Is some kind of measure being thought of by your department to make it as easy as possible for our cherry pickers?