British Columbians are preparing to “spring forward” and change their clocks one hour tonight, though few people know the exact reason why.
At 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10, clocks will jump ahead by an hour, and according to Tara Holmes with group Stop Time Change BC, the reason dates back to the early 1900s.
Holmes says the seasonal time change has nothing to do with agriculture, which is a common misconception, and is instead a holdover from war time.
“It’s the First World War, to save energy from burning coal,” she told CHEK News on Friday. “This has nothing to do with farming.”
Holmes met with former B.C. premier John Horgan in 2019, when his government announced it would be switching to permanent daylight time.
But, that was contingent on similar measures being passed in California, Oregon and Washington state.
After that announcement was made, the pandemic struck and the bill has languished on the West Coast ever since.
“At some point when they do it, we’ll be the ones to follow along instead of being the ones to do it first,” said Holmes.
The issue came up again with B.C. Premier David Eby in December, but he told CHEK News the plan remains the same, to wait until our southern neighbours make a move.
“It’s a massive annoyance to people with pets,” Eby admitted at the time.
While most of the country will be recognizing the time change, Yukon and most of Saskatchewan keep their clocks the same year-round.
Springing forward means we will have less daylight in the morning, but more in the evening.
With files from the Canadian Press
CHEK News
