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As British Columbia joins a growing global movement away from Daylight Saving Time (DST), Saskatchewan’s once-controversial stance appears increasingly ahead of its time.
For six decades, Saskatchewan stood apart in Canada as the only province that didn’t ‘fall back’ by an hour in November to extend evening daylight, or ‘spring forward’ by an hour during the warmer months. However, British Columbia Premier David Eby recently announced March 8 will be the last time British Columbians have to change their clocks.
“When we change our clocks twice a year, it creates all kinds of problems,” Eby said in announcing the new policy. “Kids get up at the same time, even though the clocks changed. Dogs get up at the same time, even though the clocks changed. Parents lose sleep. Kids lose sleep. And even people without kids or parents, they’re losing an hour of sleep… So what we see is more car accidents and people not feeling well, and impacts that have a huge, unnecessary impact on the lives of British Columbians.”
The new time zone in B.C. will be known as ‘Pacific’, as opposed to the current Pacific standard and Pacific daylight zones.
Saskatchewan has been observing Central Standard Time (CST) year-round since 1966, when the province passed The Time Act legislation.
Geographically, Saskatchewan falls within the Mountain Standard Time (MST) zone, but historically, it was much more complicated.
Before 1966, municipalities could hold plebiscites and choose their own observed time under The Cities Act and the Town Act. As a result, communities across the province used a patchwork of CST, MST, and DST, which made travel and business coordination increasingly confusing. A 1956 province-wide plebiscite showed urban voters favoured CST, rural voters preferred MST, and residents were evenly split on daylight saving time.
After years of debate, a Time Committee formed in 1962, concluded that the only workable approach was a single, uniform time across the province. The Time Act passed in 1966 and the only communities that aren’t on CST in the province are Lloydminster, which aligns with Alberta and observes MST in winter and DST in summer, and Creighton and Denare Beach which sit on the Manitoba border.
When B.C. changes its clock for the last time this Sunday, Alberta will be sandwiched between two provinces that don’t change theirs, and that may be enough for the province to reopen its own seasonal time change debate. In a referendum held in 2021, only 50.2 per cent of Alberta voters chose to continue changing clocks twice a year.
The West Coast’s decision to eliminate seasonal time changes reflects a broader shift across North America and globally. Today, only about one-third of countries worldwide observe Daylight Saving Time.
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Photo Credit: ID 13561753 © Kelpfish | Dreamstime.com
