A big issue is how connected certain trades are to the USA. A lot of our trades education or consumer products rely on their imperial system. Really wish the USA would stop prerending it is special and join the civilized world of logical units.
The funny thing is any blueprint you get will be in metric. But if you want to do something like bend a conduit, all the benders use imperial measurements.
The rule of thumb I used to use as a draughtman was that plans would be metric for zoning and permit approval, metric for steel-frame or concrete, and US standard measurement for lumber and wood-frame. this is because dimensional steel mostly comes from China, which is sold in metric lengths, while lumber is cut to US standards.
Basically everything mandated by the government is Metric, so any official labeling (like on roads or foods) and it’s what we are taught in school. But we are in a transitionary phase in terms of whats passed on through family and social interactions. And that period is extended by trade with the US leading to lots of things still having both imperial and metric measurements, or in the case of weather, I grew up on the border listening to Detroit news.
Because there are still huge numbers of people alive today that grew up and went to school before Canada officially switched to metric. Don’t forget that we’re trapped by the Americans. Where I live I can literally see the individual buildings in the city across the river which is upstate New York. There are several radio stations along the border that do their weather reports in both °C and °F. Personally… I’m 6ft tall, 235Lbs, every liquid is in litres and temperatures are in Celsius. My oven has both F and C. Driving in Canada is usually measured in time when speaking to people. I know that Toronto is about 4hrs away on a good day and it can be 7hrs on a bad day in the winter. Don’t get me started on accidents or construction. I have no idea how far it is in KM. I’m guessing maybe 400km since the speed limit is 100kph and it takes 4hrs to get there.
FWIW, I’m 45yrs old. So I’m really trapped in between the two systems. I prefer metric but my parents and many coworkers were born and raised pre-metrification.
45 metric years. I was born in QC and started out the right way. Never even heard of imperial till my family moved to ON. I’m also fluent in 24hr timekeeping, none of that AM/PM bullshit for me.
I forgot to mention another thing about our timeline. “Metrication” in Canada only started officially at the government level in 1970. The scientific community used it long before that but definitely not the average citizen and not the government. It will take several generations to finally get rid of it here, if ever. Cuz ‘Murica next door.
If you really want to hear something sad… we buy butter in bricks of 453g which are actually just 1lb bricks that were relabeled. Same goes for jugs of certain liquids. There’s no such thing as a 4L jug of milk or juice or even motor oil. We have 1gal jugs that are labeled and contain 3.79L of product.
It’s interesting to see that Australia and New Zealand did just fine with metrification around the same time. Yet somehow, the UK and US absolutely bungled it and Canada has had to wait for generational change.
Here’s a little photographic evidence to backup my claims re. food.
Here you will find extremely common products that are available in every supermarket/grocery/convenience store all across Canada. A Canadian pound of butter 454g (didn’t realise this brand still has imperial on the label), 2.5 cups of Gatorade 591ml, 3 cups or 1.5pints of Coca-Cola 710ml, 6 cups or 3 pints of flavoured coffee creamer 1.42L, and last but not least, 1 pint of salad dressing 475ml. Obviously it was orders of magnitude cheaper and easier to update the label than to change all the bottles and other various containers and manufacturing processes.
A big reason is, at least for me, I’m one generation removed from someone who lived when Canada was on Imperial. It’ll take a few generations to get rid of it. You can even see it in the replies here, as people who are certainly younger than me are talking about how they’re using metric exclusively for things that I still swap between.
Inertia and things that are really, really inconvenient otherwise. Here in Saskatchewan, the “grid” roads serving rural Saskatchewan are actually laid out in a 1 mile by 1 mile grid, enclosing 1 section of land (640 acres). Even equipment without odometers can follow directions like “4 miles north and 3 miles west” by simply counting intersections.
By distance, Saskatchewan has approximately 1/3 of all the roads in Canada despite having only about 1/35 the population. Miles are not going anywhere, even if everyone gives total distance travelled and highway distances in kilometres (or approximate travel times).
After 3y in UK I understood imperial system but I still hate it. When I watch a video when they mention imperial system I just don’t bother to finish it.
As a German I have to ask… why? It’s just sad at that point
A big issue is how connected certain trades are to the USA. A lot of our trades education or consumer products rely on their imperial system. Really wish the USA would stop prerending it is special and join the civilized world of logical units.
The funny thing is any blueprint you get will be in metric. But if you want to do something like bend a conduit, all the benders use imperial measurements.
The rule of thumb I used to use as a draughtman was that plans would be metric for zoning and permit approval, metric for steel-frame or concrete, and US standard measurement for lumber and wood-frame. this is because dimensional steel mostly comes from China, which is sold in metric lengths, while lumber is cut to US standards.
Basically everything mandated by the government is Metric, so any official labeling (like on roads or foods) and it’s what we are taught in school. But we are in a transitionary phase in terms of whats passed on through family and social interactions. And that period is extended by trade with the US leading to lots of things still having both imperial and metric measurements, or in the case of weather, I grew up on the border listening to Detroit news.
Because there are still huge numbers of people alive today that grew up and went to school before Canada officially switched to metric. Don’t forget that we’re trapped by the Americans. Where I live I can literally see the individual buildings in the city across the river which is upstate New York. There are several radio stations along the border that do their weather reports in both °C and °F. Personally… I’m 6ft tall, 235Lbs, every liquid is in litres and temperatures are in Celsius. My oven has both F and C. Driving in Canada is usually measured in time when speaking to people. I know that Toronto is about 4hrs away on a good day and it can be 7hrs on a bad day in the winter. Don’t get me started on accidents or construction. I have no idea how far it is in KM. I’m guessing maybe 400km since the speed limit is 100kph and it takes 4hrs to get there.
FWIW, I’m 45yrs old. So I’m really trapped in between the two systems. I prefer metric but my parents and many coworkers were born and raised pre-metrification.
Metric or imperial?
45 metric years. I was born in QC and started out the right way. Never even heard of imperial till my family moved to ON. I’m also fluent in 24hr timekeeping, none of that AM/PM bullshit for me.
Thanks for taking your time go give me that detailed answer. Really appreciate it. Don’t even know what to say know XD
I forgot to mention another thing about our timeline. “Metrication” in Canada only started officially at the government level in 1970. The scientific community used it long before that but definitely not the average citizen and not the government. It will take several generations to finally get rid of it here, if ever. Cuz ‘Murica next door.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada
If you really want to hear something sad… we buy butter in bricks of 453g which are actually just 1lb bricks that were relabeled. Same goes for jugs of certain liquids. There’s no such thing as a 4L jug of milk or juice or even motor oil. We have 1gal jugs that are labeled and contain 3.79L of product.
It’s interesting to see that Australia and New Zealand did just fine with metrification around the same time. Yet somehow, the UK and US absolutely bungled it and Canada has had to wait for generational change.
Here’s a little photographic evidence to backup my claims re. food. Here you will find extremely common products that are available in every supermarket/grocery/convenience store all across Canada. A Canadian pound of butter 454g (didn’t realise this brand still has imperial on the label), 2.5 cups of Gatorade 591ml, 3 cups or 1.5pints of Coca-Cola 710ml, 6 cups or 3 pints of flavoured coffee creamer 1.42L, and last but not least, 1 pint of salad dressing 475ml. Obviously it was orders of magnitude cheaper and easier to update the label than to change all the bottles and other various containers and manufacturing processes.
People provide many excuses, but the reason there has been no further improvement is Canada stop it’s metrification program in 1985.
So what we successful converted in 15 years of metrification remains metric, the remainder is unlikely to change, and Imperial units are still taught.
This varies by province, due to the education component. For example, Québec is more metric than most.
A big reason is, at least for me, I’m one generation removed from someone who lived when Canada was on Imperial. It’ll take a few generations to get rid of it. You can even see it in the replies here, as people who are certainly younger than me are talking about how they’re using metric exclusively for things that I still swap between.
That’s the ONLY reason. I’m quite fond of metric.
Inertia and things that are really, really inconvenient otherwise. Here in Saskatchewan, the “grid” roads serving rural Saskatchewan are actually laid out in a 1 mile by 1 mile grid, enclosing 1 section of land (640 acres). Even equipment without odometers can follow directions like “4 miles north and 3 miles west” by simply counting intersections.
By distance, Saskatchewan has approximately 1/3 of all the roads in Canada despite having only about 1/35 the population. Miles are not going anywhere, even if everyone gives total distance travelled and highway distances in kilometres (or approximate travel times).
It’s not hard for us it’s just what we’re used to.
This is next level national fck up. 🤣
After 3y in UK I understood imperial system but I still hate it. When I watch a video when they mention imperial system I just don’t bother to finish it.