SINCE Canadian correspondent Gord Cowan (Letters, January 7) expresses surprise at Britain’s continued use of a much-appreciated imperial measurements system, perhaps I can say a word about the situation in his own country.

In The Yardstick, journal of the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA), a Canadian writer points out that his country used to use imperial measures until Pierre Trudeau was elected Prime Minister in the late 60s.

Mr Trudeau has no great love for the United States and wished to make Canada more European than North American. Metric measurements came in handy for that.

Canada’s biggest trade partner, closest neighbour and best global friend, the United States, was never going to go metric. But this did not stop Mr Trudeau abolishing his country’s historical imperial measurements as part of his own little anti-American social experiment.

As The Yardstick’s correspondent reports, most people in Canada still measure in feet and pounds, even if their driver’s licences scream centimetres and kilograms in accordance with the Trudeau manifesto.

He ends by observing: “It didn’t have to be this way. Canadians should never have moved away from miles per hour, except for one guy with a completely unchecked ego named Trudeau”.

Information on the campaign for freedom of choice in units of measurements, imperial or metric, can be found at bwmaOnline.com.

COLIN SMITH, Totton Branch, New Forest East Conservatives.