Work light

[graham-xrf]

I don't know how they do things in Canada but in the US the neutral and ground are run as separate wires to outlets but they are connected together either at the breaker box and /or at the pole- code frowns on using the ground as a current-carrying conductor but for a light load (like a light) you could
-M

Safety!!
In all systems I know that include a earth ground wire, the earth and the neutral are connected together, but only at the OTHER input side of the RCD (Residul Current Device) , at the incoming consumer distribution (where all the trip switches or fuses are). The principle is, what goes in (the lives) must balance what comes out (the neutral) to within about 30mA. A leak to earthed parts of any appliance, say a kettle element breaks, or your grinder motor cable gets frayed, will cause it to trip out.

With most USA/Canada systems, there are two lives, each 110V to perhaps 115V AC, relative to a neutral in the middle. For higher power stuff, like cookers, or your lathe, you can connect the appliance between the two lives, to get the 220V or 230V. There is no connection to the a neutral, unless there are separate 110V things in the device, and the neutral is used just for them. This could include a lamp, but that neutral must not be confused with the other live. I don't know what the color codes in USA are, but in UK, neutral is always blue, and is never used for a live. If the same 110V cable had a color that was previously a 110V neutral, now being is used in a 220V role, nasty things can happen from the confusion.

Connecting a lamp between one of those lives and the safety earth wire, just because there is 110V apparently between them, should cause an immediate trip-out, if the RCD safety device is working properly. If you want a 110V lamp, give it it's own cable. That is less hassle than stealing power from one of the phases, and still having to provide it's own separate neutral wire anyway.

In any event - the earth leak return safety wire must never be used as a power connection for anything, and would normally cause a trip-out in a correctly wired house or shop supply.