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It’s that time of year again.
The annual spring forward into daylight saving time, which starts on March 11 this year, brings with it the debate over whether or not to abolish the practice.
The B.C. Chamber of Commerce has maintained the position for the past two years that the province should stop the biannual time change — noting the time change every spring brings with it an increase in workplace accidents and injuries, traffic crashes, and a decrease in worker productivity, due to a loss of sleep.
“From an efficiency point of view I think the membership was at that point looking at workplace accidents, looking at productivity, they just got to a point where they thought, ‘You know what, it’s time to keep it on one time zone whether it’s Pacific standard time or daylight saving time,’” said Dan Baxter, director of policy development, government and stakeholder relations with B.C. Chamber.
The chamber has taken the stance that B.C. should abolish the time change and stay on daylight saving time year round.
“We have a number of tourism-related businesses that really believe that having that extra hour at the back end of the day just means people can get out into the community more. A province like British Columbia where we have a lot of great tourist attractions, outdoor tourist attractions especially, if we can give that extra hour on the backside it can actually be a real boost for our tourism industry,” he said.
Changing the time zone cannot be done alone. The chamber is pushing for a harmonized approach with neighbouring provinces and states.
“That was a big part of the discussion as well at the policy review level at the B.C. Chamber and I think amongst the membership and the delegates… is that if we do it ourselves we would be introducing more misalignment of the pacific economic zone,” Baxter said.
“Our big thing was for the government to move forward to try to do it with partners like the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, which includes Oregon, Washington State, Alaska,” he said. “Anyone who’s on that pacific time zone trying to get them to go along so we’re harmonized, which is better for business.”
Municipal governments in the province have also joined the call to end the time change. A resolution asking the province to consult with the public “with a view to abolishing daylight savings time” was endorsed by the majority of delegates at last September’s Union of B.C. Municipalities conference.
If B.C. abolishes the time change, it won’t be the first jurisdiction to do so.
Saskatchewan does not change its clocks twice a year along with the rest of the country; it is permanently on daylight saving time. In the U.S., Hawaii and Arizona do not observe daylight saving time. Several other U.S. states, including Oregon and Washington have considered making a change.
jkerr@vancourier.com
