Marcel is valued for his expertise in plant health regulatory program development and implementation in a broad area of plants and plant products, including forest products and agriculture, and in global and domestic trade rules aimed at preventing the spread of harmful plant pests. “I am looking forward to continuing my relationship with CWPCA and assisting the Canadian wood packaging industry by offering regulatory insight, advocacy and guidance for all phytosanitary issues,” he stated.
CWPCA has also engaged the services of Mr. Michael Albright, a recognized third party kiln evaluator, and former staff member at the University of New Brunswick’s Wood Sciences Department. Mr. Albright will act as the CWPCA’s Lead Inspector for the HT Program and will be primarily tasked with, as the name implies, leading and overseeing the inspection team.
Mike Albright comes to the CWPCA after a 33-year career at the University of New Brunswick. He graduated from UNB in 1988 with a BSc in Electrical Engineering. After graduation he worked as a Project Engineer for the Wood Science and Technology Centre at UNB for 27 years, specializing in wood product testing, quality control equipment and 3rd party kiln evaluation for the heat pasteurization of wood products just to mention a few of his areas of expertise. Mike served the last five years as Technical Officer for the Department of Chemistry at UNB and continued to provide contract services to the wood products industries as well as 3rd party kiln evaluator services under CFIA’s HT Program.
Mike has been a CWPCA inspector for 7 years and also serves the CWPCA as a member of The Canadian Forest Products Advisory committee. His wide range of technical expertise and kiln evaluator status gives the association an opportunity to both better serve its members and clients, as well as to provide a strong voice from a wood sciences perspective. “I am pleased to be expanding my role with the CWPCA to serve the wood packaging industry in Canada,” he stated. “High phytosanitary standards in our products are critical in order for wood packaging to remain as the number one choice to end-users, and ensuring that our inspection program is the best that it can be is a very important priority for me.”
“We feel that the deep historical knowledge and technical expertise offered by these two individuals will enable CWPCA to better serve the industry in the area of ISPM-15 compliance, Canadian HT program effectiveness, efficiency and modernization, as well as government/regulatory advocacy on behalf of the industry. We feel very fortunate to have them both as a part of our team,” concluded Scott Geffros, CWPCA general manager.
OCTOBER 2021