1. Nursery Growers Short Course - Save the date!

The LO-OMAFRA nursery short course is set for Friday, February 10 at the Landscape Ontario office in Milton. It is a return to an in-person event and we’re looking forward to seeing you there! Please book your calendars for a day learning about research on Spotted Lanternfly, peat and media challenges and more. Cassie Russell (your new nursery specialist) is working on a great speaker program. Karri at LO is planning a top notch lunch.

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2. Landscape Ontario Congress

LO Congress returns January 10-12 at the Toronto Congress Centre. The growers’ reception will be held on the Tuesday after the day’s events, and before the supper at the Delta. More details to follow.

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3. Temporary Help Agencies

At the sector leadership meeting in early December, there was a presentation that provided information to farms regarding their responsibilities when using temporary help agencies. The licensing structure for these companies should be in place by 2024. We’re setting up a webinar for early January for farms interested in getting more information — the MLITSD is working on a summary of the legal obligations for employers and what questions you should be asking when investigating a new agency. Please refer to the current guidance online.

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4. Service Canada & TFW

Also at the December leadership meeting, Service Canada (ESDC) informed us they are working to streamline the inspection processes that many of you found frustrating and redundant over the last couple of years. While the compliance record for Ontario farms has been excellent, there are still ‘justification’ processes that do take a lot of time and paperwork. A presentation is attached to this email that reviews the recent changes within ESDC that allow them to suspend the processing of an LMIA if there is a non-compliance.

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5. CNLA Updates

Provided by Jamie Aalbers, Growers Sector Specialist

Box tree moth regulations: the new directive was published December 22. Watch for CFIA’s notification on their website.

CFIA consultations on Box Tree Moth (BTM) regulations:

• CFIA has added box tree moth to Canada's list of regulated pests and as a result Ontario will be a regulated area for box tree moth.
• Starting in the spring of 2023, growers wanting to ship boxwood to customers outside of Ontario will require a domestic movement certificate (DMC).
• CFIA is proposing that growers need an approved pest module for BTM in place for issuance of the DMC Phytosanitary inspections will not be offered.
• A pest module within CNCP, GCP or Clean Plants will be accepted, and if you are not in one of those programs an alternate plan will need to be developed with CFIA.
• For those not on a program, Clean Plants offers a two year phase in period after you have an approved BTM pest module.

Spotted lanternfly consultation:
This is the new pest we’ve been reminding you to watch for since we did expect it to enter Ontario in 2022 (no confirmed reports yet, though). CFIA has opened a consultation for how to manage this pest in Canada from a regulatory perspective. LO and CNLA will be crafting a response and will be looking for your input.
 

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