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By Dylana Kneeshaw

STOP THE TIME CHANGE

Stop the Time Change advocates relieved to see legislation allowing for year-round Daylight Saving Time

Oct 31, 2019 | 9:57 AM

KAMLOOPS — For people tired of changing their clocks back and forth each year, progress has been made in legislation required to bring year-round Daylight Saving Time.

Today (Oct. 31), the provincial government tabled legislation to end the practice altogether. There’s no set date for when this will happen, however advocates for ending the time change, such as Tara Holmes and Bob Dieno of Stop the Time Change, are happy with the government’s intent.

“People started realizing that there is no need for the time change anymore,” explains Holmes, “People thought there was a reason we did it, and the reason was during the war for preserving coal, and to save energy, and the war is over.”

Premier John Horgan’s government has now put together the legislation that would allow for a future move to permanent Daylight Saving Time. Welcome news to Holmes, who has been pushing for the decision since 2015.

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“Now that he (Horgan) is kind of backed into this corner because he knows the people of BC want this, I feel that he can be a leader,” notes Holmes. “And he has a real huge opportunity here to listen to the people of BC, stop the time change, and I think that the rest of the country will follow, as well as Washington State. And it will take a little bit more time for them, and they may be ready to do it with us, but I think we’re going to be leaders on this.”

The decision was backed after much public consultation, and 93 per cent of surveyed British Columbians indicating they want the change.

Legislation would likely not take effect until next year, meaning this weekend clocks will still need to be changed over. But Holmes says she’s actually glad to see the province make sure it’s doing its due diligence.

“I think consulting with communities like Fort St. John, places who have had referendums, and actually stopped the time change, I think (it’s worth) communicating with them and finding out what happened soon after,” she says, “You can’t just jump into something like this. And this gives a lot of people time to know exactly what’s happening.”

Areas in the Peace region that can be on Mountain Time would not be impacted, however when the change is implemented, the province’s time zone would be known moving forward as just, Pacific Time.