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Get ready to ‘fall back’ again on Nov. 3, B.C. residents

John Horgan hoping daylight saving time stays in 2020
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B.C. Premier John Horgan meets with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in Vancouver, March 2018. (B.C. government)

The B.C. government’s recent popular survey on the unpopularity of changing clocks twice a year has raised hopes that they won’t have to ‘fall back’ and change their clocks on Sunday, Nov. 3.

But as B.C. Premier John Horgan, Yukon Premier Sandy Silver and western U.S. state leaders have cautioned, it won’t be this fall and it may not be next fall either. All have declared that the top priority is that the west coast “Cascadia” region remain in the same time zone, for the sake of airlines, tourism and other business and social ties.

The B.C. government plans to pass legislation this fall declaring B.C.’s intention to go to daylight saving time year round. Washington and other states have done the same, but unlike in Canada, the U.S. Congress has to give consent for states to make the change.

Horgan’s government is moving to match a private member’s bill presented three times in the B.C. legislature by Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson, calling for daylight saving time to be made permanent.

“People are more interested in the light in the nicer months than they are in the winter months,” Larson told Black Press.

In his first visit to Whitehorse at the end of September, Horgan and Silver agreed they would only make the change in a coordinated way.

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Kootenay and Peace River communities in B.C. have long used the same time all year round, due to economic ties with Alberta. Creston, Dawson Creek and Fort St. John use Mountain Standard Time all year round.

Most of Saskatchewan stays on Central Standard Time all year round. Saskatchewan passed a law in 1912 leaving the choice of time zone up to municipal governments, allowing Lloydminster, which straddles the border with Alberta, to use daylight saving time and match with the rest of Saskatchewan in summer only.

Horgan attended the annual Cascadia Innovation Corridor conference in Seattle Oct. 13, where he met with Washington and Oregon officials about the issue. They reiterated their desire to move in a coordinated way, which means waiting for U.S. states.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has warned that the U.S. Congress is in the midst of a battle over impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, making progress on any issue difficult.


@tomfletcherbc
tfletcher@blackpress.ca

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