British Columbians will adopt year-round daylight time, springing forward by one hour this Sunday for the last time.
In an announcement on Monday, B.C. Premier David Eby said that following the upcoming time change on Sunday morning, when the clocks will “spring forward,” there will be no further time changes.
The decision means that B.C. will be on same time zone as the Yukon and will match Alberta from November to March, while it will remain one hour behind Washington state, Oregon and California during the winter months.
“What we see is less car accidents and people not feeling well,” Eby said at a press conference on Monday.
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Attorney General Niki Sharma said that she is looking forward to more stable and predictable schedules.
“On Nov. 1, when clocks would normally be turned back, no change will be made and we will have fully transitioned into our brand new time zone called Pacific Time,” she said.
“Pacific Time will be set seven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time.”
Under former premier John Horgan, B.C.’s NDP government passed legislation enabling the province to end the biannual time change, but the measure was never enacted.
That’s because B.C. sought to align the shift with jurisdictions along the west coast, like Washington and California, and avoid business disruptions.
In 2020, people in Yukon moved their clocks ahead for the last time, switching to permanent daylight saving time following a wildly popular public consultation.
“We had committed to wait for our American partners,” Eby said.
“But the reality is that they’re stuck. And we want to help give them the push that they need. Someone’s got to go first. To be fair, the Yukon went first and we thank them for that. But we’re going to give them a push. And we’re also going to make decisions right now where British Columbia decides what’s best for us.”
According to the Pew Research Center, only about a third of the world’s countries practise daylight saving time, and the vast majority of them are in Europe.
-with files from The Canadian Press
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