Metric Commission logo, used on many metric products in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s
The Metric Commission (French: Commission du système métrique), formally the Preparatory Commission for the Conversion to the Metric System, was a Canadian government agency established by the federal government in 1971 to facilitate Canada's conversion to the metric system 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.[1]
The commission's logo was designed by Gottschalk+Ash Toronto, designed by Stuart Ash,[2] and licensed for use on any metric products (such as rulers). It is based on the logo of the 1967 Canadian Centennial by the same firm.[3]
A number of Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament had vocally opposed the metric system during the previous Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau. Dennis Braithwaite of the Toronto Star criticized metrification in the media.[4]
The agency was abolished on March 31, 1985,[5] early in the mandate of a new Progressive Conservative government that came to office in the 1984 federal election. This followed the abolition of the United States Metric Board by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. The Metric Commission was replaced by a small metric office within Industry Canada. By October of that 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. The Metric Commission Order remains in force under the Industry Canada Act and reports to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.[6]
^Munari, Nicola-Matteo (19 June 2016). "Stuart Ash". Designculture. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
^"Looking Forward: Looking Back". Entro Communications. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
^"The great Canadian metric debate". 90 Minutes Live. CBC Television. 27 September 1977. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
^"Population Affiliation Report: Metric Commission". Canada Public Service Agency. 2 February 2006. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
^Legislative Services Branch, Justice Canada (1971). "Metric Commission Order (C.R.C., c. 972)". Justice Laws. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
The MetricCommission (French: Commission du système métrique), formally the Preparatory Commission for the Conversion to the Metric System, was a Canadian...
The metric system is a decimal-based system of measurement. The current international standard for the metric system is the International System of Units...
Metric time is the measure of time intervals using the metric system. The modern SI system defines the second as the base unit of time, and forms multiples...
use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States customary...
the metric system of measurement. All over the world, countries have transitioned from local and traditional units of measurement to the metric system...
outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the metric system: Metric system – various loosely related systems of measurement that trace...
(from French Système international d'unités), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. Coordinated...
units or the metric system, to replace a jurisdiction's traditional measuring units. U.S. customary units have been defined in terms of metric units since...
Garganas. (C.U.P. 1977) "Social MetricsCommission launches a new measure of UK poverty". Social MetricsCommission. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 1 February...
displayed alongside the metric unit as a "supplementary indicator". In 2007 the European Commission announced that for the cases where metric units were required...
connecting the North Pole with the Equator. In April 1791, the academy's MetricCommission confided this mission to Jean-Dominique de Cassini, Adrien-Marie Legendre...
Metrication, the process of introducing the metric system of measurement in place of imperial units, has made steady progress in the United Kingdom since...
States Metric Board (USMB) was a United States government agency set up to encourage metrication. The United States Metric Board was commissioned by the...
are based upon alternate units of metric time. The difference between metric time and decimal time is that metric time defines units for measuring time...
The history of the metric system began during the Age of Enlightenment with measures of length and weight derived from nature, along with their decimal...
officially adopted the metric system as their main system of measurement, but imperial units are still used alongside metric units in the United Kingdom...
States prosperity, Social MetricsCommission, global index of economic openness, cultural transformation, race equality commission, peace and reconciliation...
defined differently. Almost all other countries have standardized on the metric system, so although some of them still also have traditional units called...
metrication in Canada, which had begun with the 1971 establishment of the MetricCommission. The 50 yard run was replaced by the 50 metre dash, and the endurance...
sizes are commonly formed by the use of such prefixes. The prefixes of the metric system, such as kilo and milli, represent multiplication by positive or...
the metrification program. However, while the MetricCommission was disbanded and rules on enforcing metric were loosened, the "metrification" of the country...
world: Australia – Metric Conversion Board (1970) Canada – the MetricCommission Hong Kong – the Metrication Committee New Zealand – Metric Advisory Board...
accuracy of measuring the circumference. Metre is the standard spelling of the metric unit for length in nearly all English-speaking nations, the exceptions being...
Global Information