The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Permanent DST…Would Canada Follow U.S. Lead

mojo55 · March 16, 2022 12:54 am

If the U.S. Senate passes the bill making permanent Daylight Savings Time law, it would appear that Canada would have to follow suit. Not doing so would result in major misalignment of business, transportation, communication and
TV schedules. This occurred many years ago when Ontario and New York State decided to change the clocks on dates differing by a couple of weeks. This played havoc with Ontario TV schedules creating considerable confusion during a time before recording, streaming or on demand viewing when watching TV was ruled by the clock.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8685882/canada-permanent-daylight-saving-time-us-senate-bill/

Lorne · March 16, 2022 8:56 am

In 2020, Ontario passed a law committing us to making the change if New York and Quebec do so as well. I agree with this approach to the situation.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/how-the-u-s-could-push-canadian-provinces-to-adopt-permanent-daylight-time-1.5820864

Hansa · March 16, 2022 9:11 am

The US Senate did indeed pass this bill unanimously. Now it has to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by Biden but given that there was not only bipartisan but unanimous support in the Senate and has support on the state level it should pass through the House unless there's some unexpected last minute lobbying from some industry or interest that want to keep DST for some reason (I can't think of any that would, but who knows?). The only reason it wouldn't get passed this year is if the House doesn't get to it for some reason. Ontario and BC have already passed laws saying they'll scrap DST if neighouring US states do (and Quebec, in Ontario's case) - and Quebec has said they'll scrap it if the US and Ontario does (though they haven't passed a law yet). I expect though that if Congress does pass it then Canada will follow suit quickly. The goal now seems to be to have permanent DST in place next year.

Now if only the US could convert to metric.

paterson1 · March 16, 2022 9:26 am

Yes it is more the other way around. Ontario is already set to do away with the time change and Quebec indicated last year they would do the same as Ontario if the US states agreed. We are actually waiting for them.

Dale Patterson · March 16, 2022 10:02 am

Does anyone remember when - in 1973 - when the U.S. switched to daylight time a few weeks before Canada because of the energy crisis? It seemed strange for the U.S. shows to come on an hour earlier.

Last edited by Dale Patterson (March 16, 2022 10:03 am)

markow202 · March 16, 2022 10:04 am

Which time change would they pick to stay in? The one were in now for the summer season?

Hansa · March 16, 2022 2:39 pm

The idea is to stay an hour ahead permanently, so yes.

Last edited by Hansa (March 16, 2022 2:40 pm)

RadioActive · March 16, 2022 3:13 pm

Dale Patterson wrote:
Does anyone remember when - in 1973 - when the U.S. switched to daylight time a few weeks before Canada because of the energy crisis? It seemed strange for the U.S. shows to come on an hour earlier.

Check out this previous post for the answer.

John D · March 17, 2022 10:10 am

DST forever. Please.

paterson1 · March 17, 2022 10:47 am

I don't know about the US but we have areas of Canada that don't make a time change. The one that most people know would be Saskatchewan. Most of the province remains on CST all year. So part of the year they have the same time as Alberta and the rest the same time as Manitoba. Also NW British Columbia, Creston BC, the Yukon have permanent daylight time. And we can't forget Newfoundland and a small portion of Labrador which always has their unique time zone.

RadioActive · March 17, 2022 10:57 am

I believe there are only three places in Ontario that don't make the switch - Pickle Lake, Atikokan, and New Osnaburgh. All are way up north and stay on EST all year long.

RadioActive · March 18, 2022 10:21 am

According to this article, almost all of Saskatchewan is on DST yearlong.

"Saskatchewan actually observes Daylight Saving Time all year long, instead of returning to standard time in the fall."

"In fact, Daylight Saving Time is the default position of all the communities and municipalities in the province, due to the mandates during the World Wars, which made it a necessary step in order to conserve fuel and energy. The difference with Saskatchewan was that it chose not to return to standard time after the wars ended."

It notes that only Lloydminster does the time warp again twice a year.

paterson1 · March 18, 2022 12:00 pm

I don't understand why doing away with the time change has become a thing. The US tried this in 1974 and it was unsuccessful. Originally it was to be for two years and it was scrubbed after one. Most Americans liked the thought of this but in reality hated going to work in the dark for two hours during the winter. Also there were more car accidents with children going to school in the dark in the morning. Two states that still don't observe daylight savings time are Hawaii and Arizona.

So I don't really understand the push to do away with daylight savings time. Things like the time change is bad for your health and that it increases the chance of a heart attack seem suspect to me. Why is there nothing said when thousands/millions of people travel to Europe or Japan every day? These time changes can be over 12 hours. This must be really bad for your heart then? Odd that health concerns never come up when talking about travel or for people that travel many times during the year. But suddenly the one hour change twice per year is a health risk.

RadioActive · March 18, 2022 5:04 pm

The US Tried Permanent Daylight Saving Time in the ’70s. People Hated It

djwildbill · March 18, 2022 6:47 pm

Dale Patterson wrote:
Does anyone remember when - in 1973 - when the U.S. switched to daylight time a few weeks before Canada because of the energy crisis? It seemed strange for the U.S. shows to come on an hour earlier.

I remember this well, at the tender age of 7, because my kid shows were airing at a different time slot. Here’s to wishing I could be 7 again.

Dial Twister · March 19, 2022 11:15 am

We can't agree on what time it should be.

How will we solve climate change? How will we agree to defend democracy?

Good luck, everyone.

RadioActive · March 19, 2022 8:22 pm

Dial Twister wrote:
We can't agree on what time it should be.

How will we solve climate change? How will we agree to defend democracy?

Good luck, everyone.

I think we should definitely fight climate change and defend democracy, but just an hour later.

dieter · March 19, 2022 9:01 pm

Maybo wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
According to this article, almost all of Saskatchewan is on DST yearlong.

"Saskatchewan actually observes Daylight Saving Time all year long, instead of returning to standard time in the fall."

"In fact, Daylight Saving Time is the default position of all the communities and municipalities in the province, due to the mandates during the World Wars, which made it a necessary step in order to conserve fuel and energy. The difference with Saskatchewan was that it chose not to return to standard time after the wars ended."

It notes that only Lloydminster does the time warp again twice a year.

And yet, when you Google “Saskatchewan time zone” it comes up “Central Standard Time.” Unless most of the province moved to the Mountain time zone, it stands to reason it’s not on daylight time. Most of the province is now two hours behind Toronto, same as Mountain Daylight time, like Alberta.

If Saskatchewan was on Central Daylight Time year round, it would have the same winter time as Toronto and be one hour ahead of Manitoba.

But according to this article, from timeanddate.com:

Most of Saskatchewan observes Central Standard Time (CST) all year round, with no Daylight Saving Time (DST). However, some locations on the province borders use different time zones, including Lloydminster, Creighton, and Denare Beach.

I think the latter is correct. I'm sure Saskatchewan is on CST all year round. It's on Manitoba time in the winter and Alberta time in the summer.