Daylight Savings Time won’t be cancelled in BC

Thursday, November 1 ~ VICTORIA.

by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News

Today Premier John Horgan says British Columbia won’t be cancelling Daylight Savings Time. The move had been lobbied for by various members of the public, and supported in a motion by the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) this fall at their convention in Whistler.

The call didn’t fall on deaf ears — Horgan listened. But in his discussions with other jurisdictions on the west coast of North American, there was no appetite for it.

“We’ve looked into this,” said Premier Horgan during a media session today at the BC Legislature. “The Interpretation Act covers time in BC. Seven hours from GMT is what we go by (during Daylight Savings Time), as does every other jurisdiction on the west coast of North America,” he said.

“Certainly our trading partners in Washington, California and Oregon have no interest. Only Arizona and Hawaii in the United States don’t use Daylight Savings Time.”

“I’ve received thousands of interventions,” said Horgan. He called it a passionate issue but that there are “complications to our trading arrangements… and to being on the same time people we’re dealing with in the business day.”

“We have not heard overwhelming support on this from the business community. We have no plans to change Daylight Savings Time at this point,” Horgan concluded.

In 2018, Daylight Savings Time began on Sunday March 11
and ends at 2 am on Sunday November 4 (Pacific Time). People are reminded to turn their clocks back one hour at 2 am on Sunday morning, though most electronic devices will do that automatically.