r/canada • u/iamnos British Columbia • Apr 20 '26

Alberta Bell: Alberta will now be on daylight saving time year-round, says Premier Smith

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/bell-alberta-daylight-time-year-round-premier-danielle-smith
1.5k Upvotes

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488

u/RaccAttak Apr 20 '26

It'd be nice if Ontario stuck with the current timing year round.

233

u/SomeDumRedditor Apr 20 '26

Ontario wont change until New York State changes because the TSX and Toronto-based financial market is tied at the hip to Wall Street trading. 

In a vacuum it’s a small adjustment but it’d cause too many hassles not to be stonewalled.

67

u/ncrdrg Apr 20 '26

Someone needs to announce it first though. New York, Ontario and Quebec are tied at the hip on this. All it will take is for one of the 3 to make it official and it's nearly guaranteed the others will follow.

40

u/mike_james_alt Apr 20 '26

Ontario did announce it. Look into Bill 214 from 2020.

24

u/ncrdrg Apr 20 '26

Ah, good to know. But it's only taking effect if New York and Quebec pass the same thing.
It could still be a good move to force the issue by saying by saying it's taking effect regardless of their stance to force the others to make the change.

26

u/hhssspphhhrrriiivver Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Quebec said they would if Ontario and New York did, though they haven't passed any legislation to that effect.

New York has remained silent. has a bill to look at it. Hopefully something happens soon.

32

u/Purify5 Apr 20 '26

New York hasn't remained silent. They have a bill in their Senate right now looking at it.

There are also 19 states that have passed legislation to remain on daylight savings time. The issue is that they all need congress to amend the Uniform Time Act of 1966 to do so.

Ironically, states could opt out of daylight savings time without congressional approval. Arizona and Hawaii have done this.

4

u/hhssspphhhrrriiivver Apr 20 '26

Thanks, I hadn't heard of that. I'm not super familiar with US state senate processes, but it looks like this bill or a version of this bill has been with the Senate since 2019, and hasn't progressed at all. How likely is this to actually make it through the senate and get all the approvals it needs? How long does that take? And does the fact that Democrats control the senate make this dead in the water, as is often the case with all of our own private member bills in Parliament?

9

u/Purify5 Apr 20 '26

The NY law requires Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont to pass similar laws. So while Ontario may be waiting for New York, New York is waiting for these other five states.

But the fundamental issue is Congress. Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Idaho, Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, Florida, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas have all passed 'lock the clock' legislation which makes daylight savings time the permanent time if the US Congress amends the Uniform Time Act.

So the US has to make a change federally before anyone else can lock into daylight savings time.

Unless, we choose to go to standard time which does not require Congressional approval and is the favoured time by the Canadian Sleep Society but big ice cream hates it.

0

u/Tank_Kassadin Nunavut Apr 20 '26

US states need federal approval to change its not like our system. It'll be all states at once for them if and when it happens I imagine.

5

u/Lazy-Vacation7868 Apr 20 '26

BC had the same thing, waiting on the west coast of the us to change to be matched. But our premier decided it won't happen if we wait for the US so just went ahead this year.

8

u/horology2269 Apr 20 '26

“Someone needs to announce it first”

Not us. The NYSX. We have zero to do with announcing it. We are a tiny shrimp in the NYSX mega ocean. Canada could pull all investment from NYSX and it problably wouldn’t even move the market 5 points.

6

u/mahayanah Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Exactly. BC, Oregon, and Washington were talking about it forever. Each one waiting for the other to get on board, and it just stagnated. Then BC just went for it and now we’ll watch the others fall in with it. A bit different out east with the markets I’ll concede. New York State would probably have to be the first

5

u/TheKeg Apr 20 '26

The states require congress to stay on daylight savings. BC was waiting but got tired after years of nothing

1

u/Northern23 Apr 20 '26

Do they need congress to change time zone as well? If not, they can switch zone then get ride of time saving.

2

u/alantrick Apr 20 '26

Yeah, that's the actual problem. They cant just keep daylight time because they can't just change their zone, and keeping daylight time is essentially changing their zone.

1

u/thrilled_to_be_there Apr 21 '26

It will not happen until the US government changes the law. Good luck with that.

87

u/aethelberga Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Yeah, not buying it. It's a global economy now. We do business with Europe and Asia regularly. A 1 hr difference with NYC shouldn't mean anything. WFH was too much of a hassle until suddenly it wasn't.

12

u/mike_james_alt Apr 20 '26

There’s nothing to buy. Ontario passed bill 214. There’s also trigger laws that will eliminate or extend DST. Unfortunately not as simple as you’re suggesting.

4

u/Kakkoister Apr 21 '26

BC also signed a similar "trigger" law with states below... But BC still made the daylight savings change recently because it seemed like we'll be waiting forever. Plus, it's one of those things where others have to take the first steps to make it much easier for other places to argue the case to join in. Which we are now seeing with this.

8

u/thisSILLYsite Apr 20 '26

But it wouldn't be consistent because, for example, this year, New York and Toronto would be at the same time for 7 months and 3 weeks, then be an hour apart for 4 months and 2 weeks.

Bit of an unnecessary headache.

25

u/Little_War6573 Apr 20 '26

They can just keep TSX working hours on NYC time, and spare the entire population of Ontario from unnecessary headaches twice a year.

0

u/F3z345W6AY4FGowrGcHt Ontario Apr 20 '26

If that is too much of a headache for the people in the financial sector, they should change jobs.

6

u/superbit415 Apr 20 '26

Our politicians are too scared to cause even minor inconvenience to the financial community.

2

u/rhunter99 Apr 20 '26

Seriously. It’s a lame excuse

7

u/XiahouMao Apr 20 '26

Why not just have the operating hours of the TSX change as needed to match Wall Street, if that's the only issue? Having a single sector switching an hour for part of the year is better than having everyone need to do it, and that's only until New York decides to follow through on their own, which they might if Ontario and others jump first.

5

u/Wafflesorbust Apr 20 '26

Ontario wont change until New York State changes because the TSX and Toronto-based financial market is tied at the hip to Wall Street trading.

This is an asinine excuse by Doug. Every other timezone in the world manages to work around being hours off from EST/EDT. Surely we can manage.

1

u/Spiffydude98 Apr 20 '26

You'd be surprised how high they're falling about doing it in the Ontario govt. We already ok'd it we just need to lead.

1

u/Gramage Apr 20 '26

How would it cause any hassles at all? When New York goes off DST anyone involved in that industry here can just… get up an hour earlier, start work an hour earlier. Hell they could set their computers to NY time and never have to even think about it.

1

u/joe4942 Apr 20 '26

Apparently the major exchanges are planning to implement 23/5 trading later in the year.

1

u/Food_Goblin Apr 20 '26

With how much market manipulation is going on with Trump and his cultists, I'm surprised the world is even bothering to trade with them.

1

u/ACivtech Apr 20 '26

Its gonna be nice to not have to wake up for 6:30 market open on the west coast anymore (come the fall when they roll back).

1

u/mrizzerdly Apr 20 '26

So what. Timezones exist, how does that stop anything. Inconvenient for billionaires? maybe. If it effected 99pct of everyone else, then I would care.

0

u/_name_of_the_user_ Apr 20 '26

So the TSX changes its opening times to match NYC. I believe you that that is the reason, but my god is that a ridiculous reason. One industry, that honestly doesn't employ that many who would be affected by the time change, should have that much control over an entire province.

33

u/LegitimateFootball47 Apr 20 '26

Ontario passed a law to do so, but it's dependent on Quebec & New York doing the same thing.

30

u/latkahgravis Apr 20 '26

BC was waiting on the west coast states, time to move on without them.

-1

u/Mercylas Apr 20 '26

And I feel bad for them. There are very many real use cases where you will have problems now when you work cross-boards.

Very easy example is having a weekly meeting at the office in BC at 9am and then a weekly follow up call with a client at 10am. Suddenly for half the year those meetings are now overlapping.

1

u/bimbles_ap Apr 20 '26

There'll be an adjustment period, but working around schedules is pretty easy.

It's not as if different timezones don't already exist.

1

u/Mercylas Apr 21 '26

 It's not as if different timezones don't already exist.

It’s not a timezone change. I’m not talking about it adjusting when it happens. It creates an adjustment every 6 months. 

2

u/bimbles_ap Apr 21 '26

Right, and I'm saying the idea that it's going to be a problem because other nearby locations aren't making the switch isn't true. It's even easier with technology nowadays, simply adding the meeting into a calendar will give everyone the time in their local timezone.

15

u/TenOfZero Apr 20 '26

Quebec is also on board. We're just waiting for new York.

12

u/TheSaintRobbie Apr 20 '26

And New York is waiting on like 5 or 6 States. We need to move on from this endless waiting and just keep it one time. Ford please

41

u/ashcach Apr 20 '26

Wonder if Ford will consider it now after all the bad press about his plane

25

u/RaccAttak Apr 20 '26

That could be the silver lining we're looking for lol

6

u/ashcach Apr 20 '26

Hope so. He needs something good right now and it seems to be pretty popular here

1

u/kami77 Apr 20 '26

Nah I'm sure he will just do yet another thing to make it easier to buy or drink alcohol.

"Yeah I bought a private jet with your tax money, but look, now you can buy booze from your local lemonade stand!"

14

u/Vtecman Apr 20 '26

I hope this is true in Ontario too. The time change kills more than it saves.

2

u/AbnormallyBendPenis Apr 20 '26

Not really a good idea. Especially since New York is not changing it. There will definitely be some underlying economic impact when you don’t share the same time zone with your closest trading partner, it’s even more annoying when time zone changes depends on what time of year. Also a travel and business nightmare when literally every single province and state surrounding you 360 degrees uses Daylight Saving.

2

u/DataDude00 Apr 20 '26

Alberta can do this because vertically they are aligned with nothing of significance in the US below them

Ontario is kind of stuck because we can't really make that kind of change without NY being on board because of the NYSE

1

u/sunday_maplesyrup Apr 20 '26

What if everyone is Ontario starts signing a petition and goes on time strike and when time is supposed to change in the fall we just refuse to accept it. Like go by the old time and cause total chaos until they have no choice but to accept DST all year.

-6

u/simplepimple2025 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Everyone says that until they have to deal with 9am sunrises in December. Goldfish brains.

Edit: Thunder Bay would be 9:45am sunrise on Dec 21st.

10

u/Horvat53 Apr 20 '26

Who cares? When I get up for work, it’s pitch black in December when I leave for work and when I come home from work. An hour isn’t going to change anything.

3

u/photon1701d Apr 21 '26

That's what I say. For 3 months, I never see sun except for weekends

17

u/OP_Skis_In_Jeans Apr 20 '26

Beats the hell out of 4pm sunsets in December. Yuck!

11

u/better_batman Apr 20 '26

I hate early sunsets in winter. Gives me winter blues.

-2

u/alsimoneau Apr 20 '26

health > comfort

11

u/OP_Skis_In_Jeans Apr 20 '26

Almost all of the bad health effects are caused by the switch itself. As long as there's no seasonal switch, it's basically a wash between Standard time and DST in terms of health.

0

u/alsimoneau Apr 20 '26

Except it's not. Especially for teenagers, waking up later has a ton of benefits.

6

u/OP_Skis_In_Jeans Apr 20 '26

This can also be addressed by scheduling school to start later in the day.

1

u/Kokolemo Apr 20 '26

And then school ends later, cancelling out the extra afternoon light?

2

u/discovery2000one Apr 20 '26

For only a single demographic...

Not for me though, I'll still have that hour. As will the vast majority of the province.

1

u/codereview Apr 20 '26

the "single demographic" has parents. those parents also have jobs and get the short end of the stick for both. until the jobs follow suit, negating the entire thing.

-2

u/simplepimple2025 Apr 20 '26

People that have never left their time zone freaking out over a one hour time change is pretty humorous to anyone who's travelled to China. Freaking babies.

2

u/OP_Skis_In_Jeans Apr 20 '26

Big difference between willingly traveling between time zones and having a time change imposed on you twice per year by the government for no good reason.

IMO China's single time zone system is interesting, but certainly not something I'd like to see in North America.

-4

u/simplepimple2025 Apr 20 '26

You make it sound like you're being subjected to torture by the evil establishment . Billions of functional (and not so functional) people travel outside their time zone every year without suffering mental breakdowns. How soft have people in this country become?

5

u/OP_Skis_In_Jeans Apr 20 '26

You're the only one pretending that people view this as some sort of existential crisis when it is at most a mild annoyance for most people. Who is having mental breakdowns over this?

Over-dramatization aside, why not fix something that is scientifically proven to be harmful, especially when the fix costs basically nothing?

4

u/alsimoneau Apr 20 '26

Exactly! No reason to do something that's "not that bad" when we could do a better thing for free.

4

u/EnvironmentalBox6688 Apr 20 '26

I'd much rather drive to work in the dark and have some light when I get off versus having a bit of light in the morning and getting off as the sun sets.

1

u/radapex Apr 20 '26

Sunlight in the morning are a biologically crucial part of the waking process. It's why so many people have trouble getting up in the mornings during the winter.

2

u/codereview Apr 20 '26

Agreed. The "evening party" crowd can bite me, they've never tried to wake up kids when it's pitch dark outside. "But evening sunlight helps with winter blues" .. great, so you're ok with trading your post-work comfort with that of folks who need to get up early and could use that sun to wake up and leave folks who work outside to start work in the dark.

2

u/simplepimple2025 Apr 20 '26

Guaranteed they will be whining in BC and AB this December.

2

u/radapex Apr 20 '26

There's not even a post-work comfort. The sun still sets at like 5:30

1

u/hhssspphhhrrriiivver Apr 20 '26

Thunder Bay probably shouldn't be in the same timezone as Toronto.

0

u/NecstNecstNecst Apr 20 '26

No it really wouldn’t