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British Columbia’s move to permanent daylight time has reignited conversations across the country about scrapping biannual time changes.
After B.C. Premier David Eby announced Monday that most of the province will change its clocks for the last time this weekend, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said it’s time to consider following suit.
“Our government will take these recent developments under consideration and evaluate whether a similar change would be in the best interest of Albertans,” she said in a statement Monday.
The province has mulled the measure before, even putting it to a referendum in 2021 that barely failed, with a vote of 50.2 per cent against to 49.8 per cent in favour.
Alberta is now sandwiched between two provinces that have abandoned time changes: Saskatchewan has used central standard time year-round since 1966.
But east of Saskatchewan, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he has more important things to focus on.
“Not right now,” Kinew told reporters Tuesday, when asked about whether the province would follow suit, at an unrelated news conference.
Discussions, but no decisions, in the east
It’s an issue that’s been debated time and time again across Canada.
Yukon moved to permanent daylight time in 2020 after a government survey found 93 per cent of respondents wanted to end seasonal time changes.
Ontario passed legislation that year to do the same, but with an important caveat — the change would only take effect if New York and Quebec did the same, to avoid complications with travel, business and trade.
Quebec has not budged so far, but a spokesperson for its justice minister said discussions are happening, and referenced a public consultation from last year that found 91 per cent of Quebec respondents wanted to end time changes.
The Northwest Territories found in a 2022 survey that 87 per cent of respondents wanted to do away with time changes, but they were relatively split on whether to stick with daylight or standard time.
A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said any change would have to be aligned with the wider Atlantic region, but said Houston would raise the issue at his next meeting as chair of the Council of Atlantic Premiers. He didn’t specify what he meant by that. But in 2022 the Atlantic premiers seemed to suggest it would be dependent on others in Eastern Canada and the U.S.
Atlantic premiers mused publicly in 2022 about adopting permanent daylight time, but said they would not pursue it unless others took the lead.
Ever wonder why we still change our clocks twice a year? From an entomologist’s idea in the 1800s to wartime energy saving and political gridlock today — here’s how daylight saving time began, why it stuck and what’s keeping Canada from finally ending it.
In October, Liberal MP Marie-France Lalonde announced a bill calling for all of Canada to end the practice of changing the clocks twice a year.
Brampton, Ont., resident Irene Shone is continuing that push, after launching a House of Commons petition last week — sponsored by Edmonton West Conservative MP Kelly McCauley —calling for a national framework to abolish time changes.
“I feel like we should follow what the science says with respect to time, but it also impacts me directly. I do have really tough times in the morning when it’s dark,” Shone, who also launched a change.org petition on the subject in 2019, told CBC News Tuesday. “I’m not looking forward to the time change this weekend. It’s just not easy to recover from.”
But Shone wants to see permanent standard — not daylight — time, and was disappointed by B.C.’s move, saying people might find they don’t like the loss of early morning light.
A spokesperson for the Privy Council Office did not answer questions from CBC News by deadline regarding whether the federal government is considering a nationwide time change.
‘All types of problems’
But for most Canadians, the clocks are still set to spring ahead by one hour on Sunday — at least for now.
Eby said in his Monday announcement that changing the clocks causes “all types of problems.”
Research suggests that strokes and heart attacks are more likely to occur in the first few days following a time change. Some studies have also found increases in car crashes, and that judges even give harsher legal sentences the day after switching to daylight saving time.
The move in B.C. was not without its critics.
The Vancouver Airport Authority expressed concerns about scheduling, while the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade said it will make it harder for the province to attract and retain business without the U.S. following suit.
Provinces that still observe the time changes will regain this weekend’s lost hour when the clocks fall back on Nov. 1.
