Of course, now I realize from the discussion below that Congress passing (and the President signing) an amendment to the FPLA to allow metric-only labelling will certainly give a boost to metrication in Canada as well. Many manufacturers will take advantage of that permission to rationalize their packaging and present metric-only labelling in both the USA and Canada.
The momentum could certainly shift quite noticeably over the next few years after passage of the amendment in favor of metric over the whole North American continent! And I imagine the UKMA and other supporters in the UK could also leverage such an amendment in the USA as evidence that trying to hold out against full metrication in the UK is not a particularly good idea given the new movement in the USA towards metrication. I wonder if the USMA is rounding up any sponsors in Congress for the FPLA amendment (since I believe reading some time back that the wording of the amendment had been settled on some time ago). Anyone know? Ezra ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Gallagher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 5:08 AM Subject: [USMA:38070] Re: Meteric Canada > > > I unusually travel into British Columbia every now and then to get > > my filling of metric. Too bad the west is less metric than the > > east. I do remember everything was metric that I saw in Toronto. > > > > In short. I saw several things that were non-metric in BC. Acres, > > pounds in grocery stores, and occasionally people using non metric > > measurements when they find out that I am from the US. I usually > > respond in metric... "I will have the 500 ml beer." > > > > I did find a choice Celsius only thermometer at Canadian Tire in BC. > > To American visitors Canada would appear very metric. Especially since > the highway signs are all metric, gasoline is sold and priced by the > litre, > weather information is mostly always reported in metric units, and > dairy products are sold in metric units. > > But there's still a lot of non-metric or hidden non-metric measurements. > Products sold in packages that are 454 g, 3.78 L, usually when they > are either from the US or manufactured in Canada for both the US > and Canadian markets. There are other products sold in hard metric > sizes, of course. Produce and meats are officially sold and > labeled in metric, but the price per pound is usually (not always) > displayed - and much more prominently too. Deli meats on the other > hand are usually requested in grams. In Toronto, office > space is rented per square footage, and home sizes are listed > in square feet. > > There are more examples, of course. Still, to someone who is not used > to seeing so much metric, Canada probably seems to be very metricated. > > There's still a long way to go, though. > >
