On March 8, most parts of British Columbia will switch to permanent daylight saving time.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Next week, most parts of British Columbia will change their clocks for the last time and switch to permanent, year-round daylight saving time.
B.C. Premier David Eby said the time changes – moving the clocks forward by one hour in spring and back one hour in the fall – are difficult for families and businesses. Sleep experts have long said the time changes can have negative impacts on your health. The province had initially been waiting for key trading partners California, Oregon and Washington State to go forward with the change as well, but decided to push ahead with it without them.
Whether they were for or against the change, Globe readers had a lot to say on the subject. There were nearly 500 comments on our article on B.C.’s DST change. We rounded up a collection of reader thoughts and reactions to the news. Here are some highlights.
From Globe commenter John Blakely:
I feel sorry for the school students and daily commuters who will now be going to school and work in the dark during the winter months. I wonder what issue Premier Eby is wanting to distract us from by putting this shiny object out there.
From Globe commenter Fresh Mess:
It’s about time (pun intended) that somebody is finally stepping forward to end the madness of switching back and forth between standard and daylight time. I hope the other provinces follow. There’s something really depressing about setting the clocks back in November.
From Globe commenter Rik Jespersen:
While 93 per cent of us said we would like to not change the clocks twice a year, we were never asked if we’d prefer permanent daylight savings or permanent standard time. It was somehow just assumed we’d opt for daylight savings. Wrong. Come next winter and we’re experiencing 9 a.m. sunrises in Vancouver through much of December and January (10 a.m. in Prince Rupert!), we might realize we’ve made a mistake.
Some readers say the shift to permanent DST would have a negative impact on commuters in the dark winter months.Jackie Dives/The Globe and Mail
From Globe commenter deeby:
I’d be pretty uncomfortable if I had elementary school-aged children walking to school in the dark, especially if they had to cross busy arterial roads. Some have said that they’d take a risk in the afternoon otherwise, but I’d take wide-awake commuters on their way home over sleepy commuters rushing to work on a dark morning.
From Globe commenter theologia50:
Finally some leadership! It’s now getting the rest of the country onside.
From Globe commenter Ellevin:
BIG MISTAKE! Our natural circadian rhythms call for light in the morning and dark at night to give us the best sleep. We wake to light. It’s hard enough living north of the 49th to wake in winter. Now it's going to be very very hard.
From Globe commenter derek1995J:
Everyone loves to hear about beautiful BC. It's daylight time and other conflicts. No mention in this article that Saskatchewan stays on Central Standard Time (CST) year-round. No nonsense with moving clocks forward in spring or backward in the fall. God bless sensible Saskatchewan. The heart and soul of Canada.
It’s almost time to change the clocks – again. Here’s what it means for your health
From Globe commenter Angus S Miskers:
This is a very good decision, albeit a decade late. Now that I am retired it is no help to me. I would have really appreciated the daylight after work to get in a hike or a bike ride and such.
From Globe commenter Steve2014:
Eby seems to have this backward. If you are going to stay on one time then you want to stay on standard time, which most closely synchronizes our waking hours with daylight in the winter. There are numerous studies that support this. And here I thought all these years that the twice yearly time change was so that up here in the northern latitudes we’d be more closely aligned with daylight hours in the winter and summer. I had no idea it was just some sort of a grand U.S. conspiracy that we should no longer adhere to because the U.S. is mean. He loses all credibility as soon as he mentions the U.S. in a discussion about time change. Honestly, who believes this stuff?
From Globe commenter RJP6:
So what will be the time zone designation that B.C. will be using from March 7 onward? What do we tell people elsewhere in the world? Will we be permanently designated as “PDT”, even in the wintertime, or will it just be called PT? This was tried before in the U.S. — people didn’t like it and went back to PST. I guess Eby doesn’t know history and is now doomed to repeat it.
From Globe commenter Peacechild:
Excellent. I don’t care so much whether it’s standard or daylight time as long as this lunacy ends. I look forward to March 8 like never before.
Entries have been edited for length and clarity.