How did Canada overcome their problems of going metric?

Answer 1

Canada faced multiple issues coming from a wide variety of reasons.

To name a few of them:

1- People were used to the old imperial units and as such could not convert to measuring their weight in Kg instead of pounds or their height in meter instead of feet and inches. Some people were also used to measuring the distance between cities in miles instead of kilometers and never actually switched. This difference is still seen today where some older people still use only the imperial system while younger people use a mix of both

2- Relationship with the United States: Since the United States is the main trade partner of Canada, both countries need to have a unit of measurement that is common. As such lumber is still sold in imperial units instead of metric units. There is a wide array of example of goods being sold in the old imperial measures while others are sold in metric units. Potatoes are sold in pounds while potato chips are sold in grams.

3- Co-existence of both system: Since Canada imports many products, different kind of tools are needed to service them. Mechanics need to have metric and imperial tools, this is both a lot pricier but also takes up a lot more place and cause problem when comes the time to decide which tool to use, especially with products using both kind of parts to make their final assembly.

4- Monetary problems: Switching from one system to another caused a lot of headaches for people converting units and for people making sure they switch and label correctly. Packages sent to the United States needed a different sticker using a converted value to conform to the United States standard, meaning companies needed to produce two labels, pay people to make sure the conversion are done correctly, etc.

Answer 2

Switching was easier for Canada than many other countries because we have a large,

almost 20%, group of Canadians with a French history. They supported the switch

enthusiastically, seeing it as a slap in the face to the old "imperial" system.

They also held and still hold many influential positions in the federal government and

in the CBC. That resulted in support throughout the various levels of government.

The Propaganda campaign was large and pointed and followed up with enforcement.

Language laws were also brought in at the same time which required changes to

labeling. Labeling enforcement covered both measurements and language at the

same time, again getting support from the French and Canada's elite.

Support was also coming from industry because Canadians believed that the USA,

Canada's largest trading partner was converting to the Metric system. Even those

who wanted to stay with the archaic imperial system agreed that we needed to

get ahead of the changes to keep or improve our trade. It was also thought that

it would lead to more international trade.

Getting or forcing support from the population is always the main issue in converting

to any new measurement or language system. The other issues are merely technicalities.

In some of those we gave longer grace periods and in some cases we didn't convert, and

let the market play it's role.

The biggest problem was our largest trading partner. They did not go metric and

that still costs us time and money.

Answer 3

they did it magically

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Switching was easier for Canada than many other countries because we have a large, almost 20%, group of Canadians with a French history. They supported the switch enthusiastically, seeing it as a slap in the face to the old "imperial" system.

They also held and still hold many influential positions in the federal government and in the CBC. That resulted in support throughout the various levels of government.

The propaganda campaign was large and pointed and followed up with enforcement. Language laws were also brought in at the same time which required changes to labeling. Labeling enforcement covered both measurements and language at the same time, again getting support from the French and Canada's elite.

Support was also coming from industry because Canadians believed that the USA, Canada's largest trading partner was converting to the Metric system. Even those who wanted to stay with the archaic imperial system agreed that we needed to get ahead of the changes to keep or improve our trade. It was also thought that it would lead to more international trade.

Getting or forcing support from the population is always the main issue in converting to any new measurement or language system. The other issues are merely technicalities. In some of those we gave longer grace periods and in some cases we didn't convert and let the market play it's role.