Clock change marks progress for some Canadians, but is a pain for others

For some Canadians the twice-a-year changing of clocks is a welcome marker of progress through the seasons, but for many it’s just a nuisance that comes with fatigue, confused pets and even safety issues.

Daylight time began at 2 a.m. today in all provinces that observe the practice, and clocks sprung ahead by one hour. Mobile phones make the advance automatically, as long as your phone is set for a region that makes the change.

Saskatchewan and Yukon don’t observe a time change, and maintain permanent standard time.

Patricia Lakin-Thomas, a biology professor at York University, says the annual jump to daylight time has been known to increase car accidents, heart attacks and strokes.

Time regulation falls under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, and the Canadian Encyclopedia says Ottawa officially introduced daylight time in 1918 as a measure to increase wartime production.

British Columbia Premier David Eby announced last week that his province will stay on daylight time permanently and won’t be turning clocks back to rejoin standard time on Nov. 1.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government will consult on doing away with twice-a-year clock changes.

Almost five years ago, a referendum question was put to Albertans to keep daylight time year-round, but it failed by a narrow margin. The ballot offered only the option of adopting year-round daylight saving time, which Smith said might have been confusing.

She said last week she believes if you simply asked people if they want to stop changing their clocks, that would likely get overwhelming support.

In 2020, the Ontario government passed legislation to end the twice-yearly changing of clocks and make daylight time permanent — but only if Quebec and New York agreed to do the same.

In 2022, Atlantic Canada’s premiers decided to hold off on any move toward dropping the time change until they saw what neighbouring jurisdictions would do.

Winnipeggers weigh in

CityNews spoke to Winnipeggers, most of whom said the time change brought with it challenges.

One Winnipegger said, “I woke up very tired and I was like I don’t really understand why I’m so tired and then our alarm went off and we have like a watch in our car that has an alarm that goes off at 12 every day and it went off and we were like its not the right time.”

Another said, “Everyone’s sleep gets messed up. Time is not real anyway, why are you making it more difficult.”

Some said it is harder for kids to adjust to the time change, especially, with a bedtime routine already established.

“I have a 12-year-old but also a two-year-old so even with my 12-year-old that affects her school schedule and her getting up feeling more tired and wanting to stay up later even though it’s really – she should be going to bed and then same thing with the two-year-old it’s just inconsistent with routine.”

“I know a lot of people that work with kids and they say that all of the kids that they work with because they don’t understand the concept of time yet, it really messes with their sleep schedule. I would say that more than how i feel about it to be honest.”

For others, it was just another day.

“It doesn’t really bother me that much, but I know certain temperament and personalities and nature things and that does affect it quite a lot,” said another Winnipegger.