With daylight saving time ending at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, Ontarians can catch a few extra Z’s, with clocks slated to “fall back” an hour.
The act of falling back and springing forward for daylight saving time has been largely derided and lampooned in recent years, but remains in place in Ontario while other provinces have seen it fall by the wayside.
Saskatchewan, Yukon and some areas of British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario do not recognize daylight saving time, which was first observed in Canada in 1908.
The Ontario communities of Atikokan and Pickle Lake do not recognize daylight saving time.
Its Canadian origins were in Port Arthur and Thunder Bay, after which other locations in Canada began following suit. Regina joined in 1914, followed by Winnipeg and Brandon in 1916, with others falling on board in subsequent years.
Much of Ontario’s continued adherence to daylight saving time might come as a surprise to some, as the unanimously supported Bill 214, The Time Amendment Act, which sought to eliminate the twice-annual time change, received royal assent on Nov. 30, 2020.
Ottawa West—Nepean PC MPP Jeremy Roberts moved the bill, and made it contingent on New York State and Quebec also eliminating the twice-annual time change.
“This bill will only come into force at the discretion of Ontario’s Attorney General,” he said during its third reading on Nov. 25, 2020.
“The Attorney General has given me his word that he will not do this until we get our other neighbouring jurisdictions on board.”
The intent was to maintain commonality with New York State, which does a “tremendous amount of cross-border trade” with Ontario, and to avoid an “awkward situation where half the federal government workforce was on one time and the other half was on another.”
At the time, Roberts also cited a number of studies pointing to why daylight saving time is a bad idea.
- Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register found that depression levels spiked as much as eight per cent in early November after the fall back.
- A U.S. study found a 25-per-cent increase in heart attacks following the spring forward and a 21-per-cent drop upon the return to standard time.
- The American Academy of Neurology found an eight-per-cent increase in strokes following the time change.
- The Japanese Society of Sleep Research has suggested that the time change may lead to a rise in suicides.
- A study published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine found an increase in fatal collisions as a result of the time change.
- A meta-study by Rutgers “show that full year daylight saving time would reduce pedestrian fatalities by 171 per year, or by 13 per cent of all pedestrian fatalities in the 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and in the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. time periods. Motor vehicle occupant fatalities would be reduced by 195 per year, or three per cent, during the same time periods.”
At the time, Nickel Belt NDP MPP France Gélinas took a moment to support the bill, noting, “nothing but trouble comes from” daylight saving time.
The end of daylight saving time in Ontario is inching closer to reality.
A bill to make daylight saving time permanent in New York State passed the senate, which would turn their clocks ahead in March 2024 and then never change them again. It’s less clear whether Quebec will eliminate daylight saving time changes.
As it stands, don’t forget to roll your clocks back an hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6.
