Metric propagandists have long claimed that virtually the whole world is metric apart from the UK and but not for much longer the USA.
In previous issues we have reported on the reverse trend in the USA, and on other countries where, despite being officially metric, traditional weights and measures are still preferred and used for various purposes.
Thanks to Sam Malin for the following excellent information about Canada, where considerable freedom of choice has been restored.
In 1983 a moratorium was placed on the enforcement of metric units used in the market-place. At the time, in the Ontario Court of Appeal, a court decision was being appealed that allowed two gas station owners to continue the sale of gasoline by the gallon. Earlier, the two gas station owners were charged under the Weights and Measures Act for failure to convert their prices to metric units. The Ontario government won their case, but the moratorium was to stay in place until new provisions could be introduced. The new provisions included the permanent display of Canadian (Imperial) units as long as metric units were shown equally prominent. But the new provisions were never introduced or enforced. The Liberal federal government was facing an election year and did not want to upset voters.
Soon after the new Conservative government took power they completed the termination of the Metric Commission Canada by 1985. It is the current policy of Measurement Canada, the agency responsible for "fair measurement for all", not to enforce the Weights and Measures Act and Regulations with regard to the use of metric units by grocers. So, 29 years after the White Paper on metric conversion, the marketplace is free to use Imperial units of measure.
This was confirmed by a recent letter from Alan E. Johnston, President of Measurement Canada, stating: "The mandatory implementation of the metric system in [the retail sale of gasoline, individually measured foods and home furnishings] sectors raised the possibility that freedom of choice for Canadians would be unduly restricted. For this reason, a moratorium on the enforcement of these regulations was declared in 1983 by the then Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. Since then, the policy has been to let the market place set the pace of conversion rather than force its use by regulation."
He also stated in a separate letter: "While I agree that one of the driving factors for retailers maintaining the advertising of prices in imperial units of measure is the fact that prices may appear less costly, it is not the only factor. In many instances, retailers are maintaining the advertising of prices per pound for fear of alienating those customers who are unfamiliar with the metric system."
Since the UK experience is so similar to theirs, we devoutly hope that, some sixteen years later, we follow their eminently sensible example.
The sequence of events in this process of relaxation was as follows:
Nov 84 Consumer & Corporate Affairs announced that it would not prosecute violators of metric laws.
Jan 85 Consumer and Corporate Affairs Minister, Michel Cote, announced that regulations requiring use of metric measurements alone will be revoked and replaced by new provisions.
Mar 85 Metric Commission disbanded and replaced by a small metric office in the Bureau of Policy Coordination of the Department of Consumer & Corporate Affairs. Proposed new provisions were not introduced and implementation of metric regulations deferred.
Oct 85 Metric Office became the Measurement Information Division of Industry Canada [equivalent to our DTI] with a much reduced staff.
Apr 88 Measurement Information Division abolished. Proposed new provisions abandoned.
David Delaney obtained a copy of the latest amendments, dated 2 June 1993, to the Canadian Weights and Measures Act, listing (alongside the authorised metric units) the following authorised "Canadian Units of Measurement":
Measurement of length Unit of Measurement Definition: mile 1,760 yards; furlong 220 yards; rod, pole or perch 5½ yards; yard 9,144/10,000 metre; foot 1/3 yard; inch 1/36 yard; chain 22 yards; link 1/100 chain.
Measurement of area Unit of Measurement Definition: sq. mile 640 acres; acre 4,840 sq. yard; sq. rod 30Ό sq. yards; sq. foot 1/9 sq. yard; sq. inch 1/144 sq. ft.
Note particularly that Canadians still employ so many of our ancient and useful measures such as the acre, chain, link and rod, which we have shamefully abandoned which are, indeed, derided as obsolete by our government bureaucrats.
We have been sent many photographs of retail advertisements in Canada for foods, supermarket posters, etc, all of which show weights and prices boldly in convenient customary measures, with the metric equivalent in small type. For example, 2lb for $4 in bold with "works out to $4.41/kg" in small lettering.
Roger Dykes and other of our members have sent accounts of recent visits to Canada, from which we quote:
"Official signs may display metric information, but it is very evident, the farther West one travels, that there is a switch to dual marking, on and through to almost Imperial only. By the time one is in Alberta, Imperial appears to be the peoples choice for conveying information. As we rose in the Calgary Tower lift, the heights were shown in feet until reaching the viewing platform at 525ft to get our first view of the Rockies indicated as a distance of 40 miles. On a visit to a rodeo, all the animals were weighed in lb, the farms described in acres, distances in miles.
The captain of the ferry to Vancouver Island announced our speed in mph, and in the city every hotel car-park and swimming-pool sign is in ft & in. All the shops, restaurants, etc, advertisements and price tickets are in imperial, with or without corresponding metric quantities in small type.
On our train journey, the young engineer gave out details of power rating in ft-lb, horse-power and tonnages. During a visit to an ice field, the young tour guide gave out the facts in degrees F, and all measurements in feet. Our tour guide in Victoria, aged 18/19, educated solely in metric and assuming that we Brits were completely metricated (because thats what they are taught), nevertheless delivered her monologues exclusively in imperial."
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