Every year at this time and in early March, the same debate surfaces about whether we should bother to spring ahead and fall back with our clocks.
Why not just leave it alone? That’s the question we keep hearing on the streets.
The point is there’s only a certain amount of daylight to go around - more obviously in March than November. If we were living in Inuvik, there would be no debate because it wouldn’t make any difference.
In Chemainus and this part of B.C., it is a hot topic of conversation. The “experts” keep telling us it’s bad to change the clocks either way for an hour because sleep-depraved people seem to cause more accidents during these time periods.
But it might be misguided to talk about abolishing Daylight Saving Time. It might be more pertinent to abolish Pacific Standard Time and stay on Daylight Saving all year.
That means the sunset time at the winter solstice would be around 5:15 p.m. instead of 4:15 as it currently sits under Standard Time. I think more people would find that preferable, even if it means darker mornings, lingering past 8 a.m.
You might all remember we used to change our clocks back on the final Sunday in October and spring forward during the first week of April. Then the Americans decided in 2006 as part of a broad energy bill brought into law that Daylight Saving Time should be extended from the first week of March to the first Sunday in November so being good old Canadians of our own solid minds, we followed suit.
Changing the clocks back and forth at any time doesn’t really make any sense or save any energy or do anything else other than make us complain.