Metric Commission Canada : In 1970, the Government of Canada published the White Paper on Metric Conversion in Canada, which concluded that there should be a single measurement system in the country as soon as possible, that conversion should be encouraged and controlled at the national level, while taking into account the realities of the various sectors of the Canadian economy. In 1971 Parliament amended the Weights and Measures Act, adopting the International System of Units (SI). It also passed the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act which required metric units to be shown on consumer packages.
The Preparatory Commission for Conversion to the Metric System, otherwise known as Metric Commission Canada (MCC) was created by Order in Council P.C. 1971-1146 on 10 June 1971. The MCC mandate was to advise the Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce (transferred to Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs on January 12, 1982) on plans for conversion to the metric system. The MCC was given the following powers: to investigate, survey and study the implications of metric conversion in different sectors of the Canadian economy, to prepare (in consultation and co-operation with any federal and provincial government department or agency or other interested parties) an overall program for conversion to the metric system in different sectors of the economy while ensuring that the benefits of conversion were achieved at minimal cost and to the best advantage of Canada, and to publish and disseminate information about conversion to the metric system. Aside from reporting its activities to the Minister, the MCC was also to advise them on legislation changes or other measures needed to facilitate the conversion.
The MCC is composed of a president and up to 15 commissioners (this number rose to 20 in 1973). They are responsible for chairing the steering committees created for the various sectors of the Canadian economy: transportation, iron and steel, electricity, mining and oil industry, construction, agriculture and food, textiles and leather, forestry and printing, consumer services, and education.
Each of these steering committees is subdivided into sector committees, depending on the sub-sectors and particularities of each sector. For example, the transportation steering committee is subdivided into rail, air, marine, trucking, etc. These sector committees are composed of representatives of the concerned industry and of interest groups. More than 2,000 volunteer members have worked on one or other of these sector committees. A member of each of these committees represents it on the steering committee. At the height of the MCC's activities, from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, there were over 100 working groups, sector committees and sub-committees, subordinate to 10 steering committees.
Four phases have been planned for the operation of the MCC. The Investigation Phase, which was completed in 1974, saw the formation of steering and sector committees which determined the policies and strategies to be followed for metric conversion. The Planning Phase, in 1974 and 1975, aimed to identify the order of actions to be taken. The Scheduling Phase, which was due to end in 1976, made it possible to establish a schedule of actions to be undertaken. Finally, the Implementation Phase during which the imperial unit system was to be completely replaced by the metric system began in 1975 for certain sectors, and was to end in 1980. In reality, when the MCC was dissolved in 1985, some sectors had not completed the conversion.
Sector committees were responsible for developing and implementing a metric conversion plan for each industry sub-sector. These plans included a description of the sub-sector and its activities, as well as a proposed conversion schedule. Each plan was then circulated to the targeted sub-sector for comments and recommendations. After the plan was revised, it was submitted to the appropriate steering committee for approval and recommendation to the Commission itself.
A Federal Government Interdepartmental Committee for Metric Conversion (ICMC) was also created, in order to coordinate the metric conversion of federal departments and agencies and make legislative proposals to the federal government (amendments of existing acts so that they conform to the metric system). The ICMC first made an inventory of the acts to be amended and, in consultation with the concerned departments, prioritized the legislative amendments. From 1976 to 1979, the ICMC, through its Minister, proposed an annual omnibus bill concerning the modification of Canadian laws to adapt them to the new system of weights and measures. Also, an Intergovernmental Metric Conversion Committee (IMCC) was created, bringing together representatives from all of Canada's provinces and territories to comment and make recommendations on the drafts of the sectoral conversion plans.
From 1977 to 1984, the MCC also administered an assistance program to financially support workers who needed to obtain new metric tools. Over 92,000 applications were made and accepted under this program.
The MCC also had an administrative staff headed by an executive director. This staff was divided into several teams: administration (secretarial, finances, human ressources, etc.), dissemination of information (public relations, media, exhibitions, publications, etc.), research (rapid access system for storage and documentary research on microfilm), and international relations (import-export).
In 1982, responsibility for the MCC passed to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (P.C. 1982-0016). This change in responsibility was mainly due to the fact that most of the unfinished work of the MCC concerns consumers and citizens, rather than businesses, which aligned more closely with the mandate of the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
In 1983, the government of Canada determined that the MCC had sufficiently completed its tasks and that the remaining conversion to the metric system could continue by itself in the various sectors. Indeed, as early as 1982, several steering and sector committees had been dissolved, having completed their implementation tasks. A work plan for the phase-out of MCC was published in 1983 and the government of Canada announced that it would be dissolved on March 31, 1985 and replaced by a metric system office within the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
