The change from imperial to metric measurements started when the UK joined the European trading bloc in 1973, but it wasn’t until 2000 that shops, market stalls and supermarkets faced ...

The Imperial measurements system was first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 and 1878. Imperial measurements were used to measure length, mass, or capacity in a standard way.

But the US system of measurement is not the same as the UK’s imperial system. An imperial pint is 1.2 pints in the US. A US gallon is approximately 0.83 imperial gallons.

As the United Kingdom moves to bring back the imperial system, fans of metric measurements say it's time for Canada to go the opposite way, and drop the imperial system for good.

It’s because weights and measures are the currency of life. The truth is, many of us use both imperial and metric, depending on the situation.

“I use the analogy of an iceberg,” she says. On the surface are U.S. imperial units, but many industries already use metric measurements, including food labels, car speedometers, and thermometers.

A Toronto shopper studies metric packaging on pet food in Toronto, Saturday, Jan. 10, 1976. Environment Canada's use of Celsius turns 50 years old in 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/staff The Canadian Press ...

Many attempts to make units of measure standard have come and gone through the centuries. While some of these systems have been successful for a while, over time discrepancies began to develop ...