On March 2, Premier David Eby announced that B.C. will be doing away with the time changes for daylight saving time (DST).
As per his announcement, most of B.C. will permanently adopt DST this Sunday, making the province’s time zone just “Pacific time.” This excludes some communities on the province’s eastern side that already observe mountain time. This will be the final time British Columbians change their clocks.
Twice a year, many countries observe DST, beginning in March when clocks “spring ahead” one hour, and ending in November when they “fall back” an hour. Similar to some countries around the world that do not observe DST (like China, for example, where only one time zone is observed), some Canadian regions, or even entire provinces, like Saskatchewan, do not change the clock.
During the press conference, Eby said that constantly changing clocks caused many problems, from sleep quality to an increase in accidents.
In 2019, the province held a poll to determine how many residents would support a permanent time zone. 93 per cent of people who participated in the poll supported the implementation of a permanent timezone.
That same year, B.C. passed legislation to make the time zone swap as quick as possible, but failed to provide a firm timeline. At the time, Eby said he would wait for the West Coast states (Washington, Oregon and California) before B.C. would pull the trigger. After waiting nearly seven years of waiting, the province decided it would wait no longer.
Werner Antweiler, a business professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), said he was surprised by the B.C. government’s sudden decision.
“Somebody had to move first,” Antweiler said. “It might as well be B.C.”
The government stated that, because of “recent actions” by the United States, B.C. has changed how it approaches decisions, including the shift in the time zone.
Some communities, such as Golden, Cranbrook and Fernie, which are closer to Alberta, still share a time zone with that province and, as a result, still observe DST. The province has given local governments the authority to decide whether they wish to adopt Pacific time, along with the rest of the province, if they choose to.
Furthermore, the northern parts of the province also observe mountain time year-round, which means this change will align most of the province in the same time zone. However, autonomy is also given to those communities, allowing them to adopt the term or not.
The change in B.C. has sparked conversations across the country for other provinces and territories about whether they should follow in B.C.’s footsteps. According to a CBC article, multiple provinces have held polls with significant support for ending the time changes altogether.
British Columbians are reminded once more that they are changing clocks forward one hour, one final time this Sunday, March 8.