WATCH: Premier John Horgan says changes to Daylight Saving Time in B.C. should be done in conjunction with Washington State, Oregon and California. April Lawrence reports.
B.C. Premier John Horgan sent a letter this week to the governors of Washington State, Oregon and California urging them to “move in unison” on the issue of time change.
“We have too many economic ties, too many social and cultural ties to have one jurisdiction being out of sync with the others or two being out of sync with the others,” Horgan said at a media event Thursday.
In November voters in California approved a permanent move to Daylight Saving Time (DST). Though it still needs to be approved by state legislators and Congress, the vote ignited the interest of California’s neighbours.
Oregon now has a similar bill that will likely be put to referendum in the 2020 general election and Washington State senators are set to vote any day on whether to abandon the time change as well.
“We’re probably going to approve it in the next few days or weeks here in Washington State then it can go into effect as soon as Congress says Daylight Savings year round is okay,” said Public Radio Regional Correspondent in Olympia, Washington Tom Banse.
But Banse, who has been covering the issue in Washington State’s capital, says any permanent change to the clocks in that state will likely take place at the same time as the other states, and now possibly, B.C. as well.
“It makes a lot of sense to get B.C. on there, especially with the links between Seattle and Vancouver and Victoria,” said Banse.
If it’s approved, Oregon’s plan is make the permanent switch in November 2021 but advocacy groups in B.C. don’t think we should wait.
“We’re trying to get Mr. Horgan to maybe be a leader here instead of a follower,” said Tara Holmes, Co-Founder of Stop the Time Change.
Holmes believes B.C. should hold a referendum asking voters if they want to see the time change eliminated and if so, if it should be a permanent switch to DST or Pacific Standard Time.
California, Oregon, and Washington State are all leaning toward permanently staying on DST. Oregon has suggested once the change goes through, the time be called Pacific Saving Time.
April Lawrence
