A Bunch Of Canadian Provinces & Territories Are Looking Into Getting Rid Of Time Changes

How do you feel about springing forward and falling back? Daylight saving time in Canada is a pretty hot button issue and a bunch of provinces and territories are considering getting rid of the twice-annual time changes. That would mean sticking to one time for the entire year.

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What is daylight saving time and standard time?

In most parts of Canada, daylight saving time usually starts in March or April and ends sometime through September or November.

The clocks are moved one hour forward from standard time in the spring and stay that way throughout the summer. Then time shifts one hour back in the fall.

Once the clocks fall back, we're officially back on standard time which is used throughout the winter.

While it gets darker earlier in the evening with that change, it also means there is more light in the morning which might make it easier to wake up in the cold and dreary winter months.

Daylight saving time and standard time aren't observed for the same amount of time.

Standard time is shorter and usually only lasts around four months in Canada.

What provinces and territories in Canada are considering getting rid of time changes?

A bunch of provinces and territories are thinking about no longer changing clocks twice a year and sticking to just one time permanently.

People in B.C. who are hoping to kick time changes to the curb will probably have to wait until next year.

The province is still committed to doing away with it but that actually happening will be done in coordination with U.S. states.

While neighbouring states have either approved or are considering scrapping time changes, there needs to be approval from the U.S. federal government for it to actually happen.

COVID-19 also plays a role.

According to CTV News, B.C. Premier John Horgan said that "in the middle of a pandemic, making changes to daylight saving is not an urgent issue on people’s minds."

Alberta is also considering making daylight saving time a  permanent thing in the province.

Premier Jason Kenney even said he personally supports ditching the spring forward and fall back.

If Alberta takes the plunge, it could affect other places in Canada.

The Northwest Territories government said back in May that it would take a similar approach to Alberta's and match the territory's time with the neighbouring province.

A Nunavut MLA recently asked the government to reconsider the need for time changes. 

Premier Joe Savikataaq said that he is committed to finding out how communities could opt out of doing that twice a year.

In Ontario, a bill to make daylight saving time the standard time throughout the year is going through the legislature.

The province wants to scrap time changes in coordination with Quebec and New York along with Manitoba and Michigan.

If that happens, the sun wouldn't rise in the GTA until almost 9:00 a.m. in late December.

Have any places already stopped changing the clocks twice a year?

There are quite a few places in Canada that have ditched time changes and don't spring forward or fall back like the rest of the country.

Yukon had its last time change on March 8 and daylight saving time is now the permanent standard time in the territory.

Saskatchewan is way ahead of the curve.

Most of the province doesn't change the clocks twice a year and has been that wah for a long time.

There's the exception of the Lloydminster area which still observes daylight saving time but everywhere else is on central standard time.

Locally, some places in B.C., Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut's Southampton Island also have one time throughout the year.