Metric Commission
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
government agency established by the federal government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
in 1971 to facilitate Canada's conversion to the Metric system
Metrication in Canada
Canada has converted to the metric system for many purposes but there is still significant use of non-metric units and standards in many sectors of the Canadian economy...
from the imperial system of weights and measures and to educate the public on the Metric system.
The Commission was formed following the release of "The White Paper on Metric Conversion", a January 1971 federal government document which noted most nations had adopted the metric system and anticipated that the United States would do likewise.
A number of Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament had been vocal in their opposition to the metric system
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
during the previous Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
government of Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
. Dennis Braithwaite of the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
was a prominent media critic of metrication.
The agency was abolished on March 31, 1985 early in the mandate of a new Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
government that came to office in the 1984 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1984
The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...
. This followed the abolition of the United States Metric Board
United States Metric Board
The United States Metric Board was a United States government agency set up to encourage metrication. It existed from 1975 to 1982, ending when President Ronald Reagan abolished it, largely on the recommendation of Frank Mankiewicz and Lyn Nofziger...
by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. The Metric Commission was replaced by a small metric office within Industry Canada. By October of that same year, the metric office became the Measurement Information Division of Industry Canada, and staff numbers were significantly decreased. In April 1988, the Measurement Information Division was shut down.
See also
- Metrication in CanadaMetrication in CanadaCanada has converted to the metric system for many purposes but there is still significant use of non-metric units and standards in many sectors of the Canadian economy...
- Metrication in the United States