Is it time to re-think daylight saving?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You might soon have to reset your clocks when you cross the border. Washington State is seriously considering a bill that would eliminate daylight saving time there. Reaction to the idea has been almost completely positive.

Representative Elizabeth Scott has put forward a bill that’s being discussed at the State level. She says she went ahead with presenting it to see if there was any appetite for the change and it turns out, most people she’s spoken with are in favour, even farmers. “They said no, we don’t care either way. It doesn’t matter to us. We have lights on our tractors and on our combines and it doesn’t really matter. So then I reached out to the Washington State Farm Bureau. on the matter.”

The move would put Washington out of alignment with the rest of the West Coast, but Scott says we are used to dealing with different time zones. “Asia, Africa, most of the Middle East and quite a few of the islands also don’t follow daylight savings time. It’s just basically something that people learn to work around when you’re doing business with other entities.”

Nine other states have similar bills on the table.

The BC government says it will not consider ending daylight saving time here, saying people here aren’t interested. Here’s their statement.

“While we will follow the outcome of the Washington bill with interest, we are not considering changes to daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time (DST) is used in most jurisdictions in North America. A majority of people are in favour of shifting an hour of daylight to the evening throughout the spring and summer months, and it is more convenient for businesses and travellers if BC changes its clocks in conjunction with other provinces and US states. DST also results in a small energy saving.

The Interpretation Act regulates the use of daylight saving time (DST), which was adopted after a provincewide plebiscite in 1952. However, the provincial government does not require that all parts of the province observe Pacific Time or DST. Some areas in the province have historically observed Mountain Time or have chosen not to observe daylight saving time. The Northern Rockies Municipality (Fort Nelson) recently decided to change its time zone.”

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