Could B.C. go it alone on daylight saving time? Premier says he’ll ‘ponder’ it

Could the bubbling trade war between Canada and the U.S. produce a situation where B.C. and Washington state are in different time zones?

On Wednesday, B.C. Premier David Eby was prodded with the perennial question of whether B.C. should stop changing its clocks twice a year by keeping either daylight saving time or standard time year-round.

Under former premier John Horgan, B.C.’s NDP government passed legislation enabling the province to end the biannual time change, but the measure has never been enacted.

1:58 Will B.C. follow Yukon to make Daylight Saving Time permanent?

That’s because B.C. has sought to align the shift with jurisdictions along the west coast like Washington and California and avoid business disruptions.

Changes in the U.S. have been stalled by congressional inaction on the file.

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“My usual response to this is that our biggest trading partner and group of people that we want to stay in sync with has not yet changed their clocks,” Eby said.

“But yeah it’s open to the new world that we’re in that we stand on our own two feet as a province in relation to everything, including time zones,” he finished with a chuckle, before adding, “I’ll ponder that one.”

Given the humorous tone of the answer, British Columbians may be stuck changing their clocks for some time to come.

But B.C. would have some neighbourly precedent if it did decide to go it alone.

In 2020, people in Yukon moved their clocks ahead for the last time, switching to permanent daylight saving time following a wildly popular public consultation.