Most Canadians are lucky enough to catch up on their sleep when the clocks roll back an hour on Sunday, but an Ontario politician is optimistic it could be the last time for the country’s most populous province.
Jeremy Roberts, who represents the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, introduced a private member’s bill in October 2020 that would end the semi-annual time change in Ontario.
The bill, which passed the following month with unanimous support, would put the province on daylight saving time permanently. Ontarians would get an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day in exchange for it in the morning.
“I’ve always really hated the time change, especially the fallback time change,” Roberts said.
“I find it just awful when you come home from work in the afternoon and it’s already dark outside and you feel like you can’t go out.”
Prior to introducing the bill, Roberts consulted with people who he said preferred extra daylight in the evening.
But he said Ontario must wait until its two largest neighbors are on board before making the switch.
“As for New York State, we have a lot of cross-border commerce, but on top of that we also benefit from being in the same time zone as the New York markets, so we didn’t want to do what whether to disrupt it. “
Roberts said he contacted Quebec Premier François Legault and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Legault told him, as well as publicly, that Quebec supports the idea of sticking to daylight saving time, Roberts said.
He hasn’t heard from Hochul, but there is a bill before the state legislature offering daylight saving time all year round. To complicate matters, even if the state opted for it, it would still have to wait for Congress to approve it.
British Columbia has already decided to stick to Daylight Saving Time, but is waiting for the southern states to do the same. The Yukon decided last year to no longer make seasonal changes and now follows its own standard time zone. Saskatchewan is not changing its clocks.
Last month, Albertans voting in a referendum narrowly rejected the change to permanent daylight saving time. Psychologists who are experts in circadian rhythms had warned that the change would mean parts of Alberta would not see the sun rise in winter until around 10 a.m.
Studies from around the world have linked changes in the weather to increased car crashes, depression, decreased productivity, and a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.
This is especially the case in the spring when the clocks are moving and an hour of sleep is lost, said Joseph De Koninck of the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Ottawa.
De Koninck agrees the clock change should stop, but suggests sticking to daylight saving time all year round is the worst option.
Standard time is the best choice for the health of the general population because it is more in line with solar time and people’s body clocks, the sleep expert said.
He said if Ontario switched to permanent daylight saving time, cities like Ottawa wouldn’t see dawn until around 8:45 a.m. in December and January.
“A lot of people would work in the dark, which is the worst thing that can happen to your body clock because you need to be exposed to daylight in the morning to start your body clock.”
De Koninck said having more light later in the day could have economic benefits as it could boost consumption after work. But it would also increase mood disorders, weaken the immune system and increase the risk of certain cancers, he said.
He singled out Russia, a country as far north as Canada, which switched to permanent daylight saving time in 2011, only to drop it three years later. Studies have shown that this particularly affects children and their school performance, De Koninck said.
It doesn’t make sense for provinces to align with US states that are further south and typically have more winter light hours, he added.
“Politicians and businessmen who want the light at the end of the day for different activities, like golf … but people are not told what it will mean for them in December.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 6, 2021
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