Turns out, gaining or losing that extra hour of sleep twice a year is a very hot topic in our province.
According to the B.C. government, just one week into its daylight saving (DST) survey over 158,000 responses have come in since June 26 from residents expressing their reasons on how time should be observed.
Clock/Shutterstock
That’s eight times the number of responses from the engagement process on cannabis regulations, which saw 19,291 within its first week.
What’s more impressive is that there are two weeks left to complete the survey.
“It’s clear there is no shortage of views on how we should observe time in British Columbia,” said Premier John Horgan in a release. “I’m very pleased so many people have already taken part in this engagement to help determine the best way forward for B.C., and I encourage everyone to take the survey and let us know what they think.”
The province is wanting to know if people think B.C. should continue with the current system of DST, in which we ‘fall back’ one hour in time for winter and ‘spring forward’ ahead of summer, or stay on standard time permanently.
Across Canada, Saskatchewan is the only province to not observe DST.
South of the border along the west coast, Washington, Oregon, and California have chosen to stay on daylight saving time permanently.
The survey is still up for submission until 4 p.m. on Friday, July 19, 2019, which includes information on the history of time observance in B.C. and the impact of various options, such as changes to the timings of sunrise and sunset.
Organizations are also encouraged to provide written statements about time observance, which impacts key B.C. industries like agriculture and transportation.
