For several years, British Columbians have been tantalized with the promise of no longer needing to spring forward or fall back for the time change twice a year for Daylight Savings. Now, it seems they’ll be waiting even longer for this to become reality.
About one week ago, the B.C. Conservative Party, the Official Opposition, introduced a bill to stop future time changes in the province.
That same day, B.C. Premier David Eby had an announcement of his own. Eby announced legislation that gives the government exceptional powers that would give it, among other things, the ability to tax commercial vehicles travelling to the province from America.
During that announcement, Eby was asked about stopping the time change, and his answer made it clear that it wasn’t necessarily a priority in light of other more pressing issues that have come up.
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In October 2019, the province introduced the Interpretation Amendment Act. According to the Government of B.C., the act would allow the province to create a new name for our time zone — Pacific Time — and remove legislation that allows for the biannual time change.
Premier John Horgan said that the main snag was aligning with our American trading partners in the Pacific Northwest. Whether or not that alignment is still essential to the province in light of tensions with the States is unclear. What is clear is the current leadership’s thoughts on it.
“We’re in the middle of a trade war with the United States. The focus is on growing the economy, making sure that we’re getting rid of trade barriers across the country, and working with business leaders and labour leaders to identify things that are holding us back and quickly address them,” Eby said in response to a question about the time change.
“I am sympathetic as the next guy to kids that have trouble adjusting to time changes or pets or just waking up feeling like you’re an hour behind, but at this moment, it’s not the government’s number one priority,” he added.
He used the question as an opportunity for a minor dig at the official opposition when Eby said, ” Although it is the opposition’s priority right now.”
The Bill B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad introduced is called the Interpretation (Uniform Pacific Time Zone) Amendment Act.
Rustad spoke at the B.C. Legislature and suggested that it should be a priority for people’s health.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, science suggests moving the clocks forward actually does impact our health. A study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health notes several adverse effects from the time change, including an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
“Moving the clocks forward in the spring results in going to sleep and waking up before our internal clocks are ready for us to. This misalignment lasts for the duration of DST,” the study suggests.
It adds that it can “reduce the amount of sleep we’re able to get, to the detriment of our health.”
Are you still recovering from losing an hour of sleep, or have you adjusted fully?