Daylight Saving Time Continues to be Hot Topic

Daylight Saving Time Continues to be Hot Topic

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

In November of 2019 the Provincial Government asked Albertans what they thought about Daylight Saving Time (DST).

At that time Service Alberta Minister Nate Glubish stated: “We know people have strong opinions about changing their clocks twice a year, and we want to hear them. As more Canadian provinces and territories sand some American states are having discussions about this, it’s important that we hear from Albertans.”

The survey, which closed in early December, elicited more than 140,000 responses. As for how many respondents supported or opposed a change is not known at this time.

In the Fall of 2017, after months of public hearings and debate, Alberta MLAs voted 46 to 6 to scrap Bill 203 that would have done away with DST. The province’s standing committee on Alberta’s Economic Future accepted written submissions from the public and heard from approximately 13,500 respondents. More than two-thirds of respondents were in favour of eliminating DST..

Back in March of 2015 Fort Saskatchewan- Vegreville MLA Jacquie Fenske tabled a petition in the legislature asking the government to repeal the Daylight Saving Time Act. The petition was started by 82-year-old Ruby Kassian and had more than 3,000 signatures at the time.

DST was introduced in Alberta after a 1971 province-wide plebiscite resulted in 386,846 votes (61.7 per cent) in favour of adopting the change. This followed the first plebiscite, which took place in 1967 and resulted in a narrow defeat for the DST change 248,680 (51.25%) against the change.

George Hudson proposed the idea of daylight saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation starting on April 30, 1916. Many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the 1970s energy crisis.

In Canada DST started on July 1, 1908, in Port Arthur (today’s Thunder Bay) Ontario.

Although modern DST has only been used for just over 120 years, ancient civilizations are known to have engaged in comparable practices thousands of years ago. For example, the Roman water clocks used different scales for different months of the year to adjust the daily schedules to the solar time.

In Alberta, DST will start on March 8, 2020 at 2 am local daylight time. Sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later than the day before, and there will be more light in the evening. DST is now used in over 70 countries worldwide and affects over one billion people every year. The beginning and end dates vary from one country to another.

George Hudson proposed the idea of daylight saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation starting on April 30, 1916. Many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the 1970s energy crisis.

In Canada DST started on July 1,1908, in Port Arthur (today’s Thunder Bay) Ontario.