Canadians overwhelmingly want to end the practice of changing clocks twice a year, new data shows, with a majority preferring permanent daylight saving time over standard time.The Angus Reid Institute survey finds 53% of Canadians favour staying on daylight saving time year-round, while 33% would rather adopt permanent standard time. Saskatchewan remains an exception, where 56% of residents support year-round standard time and 41% prefer daylight saving time.British Columbia became the second province to abandon biannual clock changes this month, adopting permanent daylight saving time. Most of Saskatchewan, except for a few border communities, already observes year-round Central Standard Time.B.C.’s decision traces back to a 2019 public engagement survey that reported 90% support for permanent daylight saving time. Historically, daylight saving time was first adopted across Canada during the First World War to extend daylight hours for factories. The practice returned nationwide during the Second World War and, after that, provinces and territories were left to determine their own observance.For decades, most provinces aligned their clock changes with the United States, including after 2005 when the U.S. extended the daylight saving period into March and November. .Initially, B.C. planned to wait for Washington, Oregon, and California to adopt permanent daylight saving time. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly supported ending clock changes, but Congress has not yet passed legislation.Other provinces have debated abandoning clock changes. In Alberta, a 2021 referendum failed by a narrow margin of 0.4%.Experts note that time zones have major implications for health and safety, with debates over whether permanent daylight saving time, which shifts sunsets later in the evening, or permanent standard time, which delivers earlier sunrises, is better for human circadian rhythms. B.C.’s survey, which formed the basis for its new policy, only asked residents about year-round daylight saving time and did not consider year-round standard time.The national data shows a clear desire to stop “springing forward” and “falling back,” with most Canadians preferring permanent daylight saving time over standard time.
