It’s good news for those of you who enjoy your sleep, as BC residents gain back the hour of sleep they lost to Daylight Saving Time (DST) as the clocks turn back this weekend.
The clocks in BC are scheduled to change back to 1 am at 2 am local time on November 5. But could this be the last time the province experiences the semi-annual time change?
Daylight Saving Time changes affect six time zones across Canada and are meant to provide us all with some extra light during the summer months. The change affects the Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic, and Newfoundland DST time zones.
There are some serious drawbacks to the time change, including an increased risk of traffic accidents. ICBC even recently teamed up with the Vancouver Police Department to hand out pedestrian safety tags as the risk of a pedestrian incident increases in fall since it’s darker sooner.
With the potential downfalls, it’s no wonder that a petition was launched eight years ago to stop the time change in BC. The petition gained close to 25,000 signatures and started the conversation in the BC Legislature with Ministers Terry Lake and Todd Stone.
Harry Beugelink/Shutterstock
But, it seems that BC is looking to our neighbours to the south before it makes any decisions on a permanent switch to Daylight Saving.
The US proposed the Sunshine Protection Act last year that would allow parts of the country to remain on permanent Daylight Saving Time. Unfortunately for BC, the legislation is still waiting for federal approval.
A statement from the BC Ministry of Attorney General to Daily Hive in March 2023 announced that the decision to remove the time change will depend on the US for trade purposes.
“The Province is committed to ensuring BC’s economy and businesses aren’t negatively impacted by a permanent shift to daylight saving time. That’s why the move to permanent DST is planned to be brought into effect at a time that maintains alignment with our neighbours,” the statement read.
It looks like BC will have to deal with the changing clocks for a while longer. At least this Sunday will be our gain.
With files from Amir Ali and Daily Hive National Trending Staff
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