There was some hope that the four premiers in Atlantic Canada would emerge from their March 21 meeting with a new plan for how we manage our kitchen clocks but the premiers said it would all depend on the United States.
“No firm timeline from us, other than we recognize that what happens here certainly will be influenced by what happens in other jurisdictions,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston. “We’ll wait for that to happen first.”
Newfoundland Premier Andrew Furey invoked Pierre Trudeau’s famous description of our American neighbours, calling them the “elephant to the south.”
“I think it’s wise that we reflect and wait for the United States, certainly the Eastern Seaboard, to make a decision. It would be irresponsible from a business perspective and quite chaotic if we weren’t aligned with the Eastern Seaboard.”
The United States Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that would make daylight savings year-round in most of the country-meaning no more “falling back” in the autumn.
While opinion is split on how we should manage our clocks, the majority seem to agree that we shouldn’t be changing our time by an hour twice a year.
The US bill is far from being the law of the land yet, however. It still must pass the House of Representatives and get approved by President Joe Biden. Even then, permanent daylight savings wouldn’t become the norm until 2023, to give industry time to adjust.
PEI Premier Dennis King said getting rid of our current daylight savings scheme would be a popular move in his province. But he stressed that it would only work if all four Atlantic provinces were on board.
“If that were to happen, we would have to react collectively here in some way,” said King. “We’ve all decided it doesn’t make sense for one of us to do this. If we are to proceed with something, we’d try to do as much as we can on a regional basis.”
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, meanwhile, said he doesn’t feel rushed into making a daylight savings decision.
“I guess we wouldn’t fall back this fall if [we made the change] this summer, but that’s unlikely,” said Higgs, when asked what he thought the benefits of daylight savings reform were.
“I don’t think it’s anything we’re pursuing in an expedited manner but I do think it’s very relevant.”
But even if the Atlantic provinces follow the USA’s lead on daylight savings, one thing won’t change: Newfoundland’s strange half-hour time difference.
“We like our half-hour difference,” said Furey, while grinning. “We like to be different, and we’re going to maintain that.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: montagued@huddle.today.
