Cartoon by Google Gemini
I apologize to my long-time readers who have heard me rant about the idiocy of Daylight Savings time. I thought we had finally made up our minds. But oh, no. The Over-Opinionated now have to wage war on whether it should be permanent Daylight or Standard. Pontifical medical people who should know better than to step outside their area of expertise tell us that choosing Daylight Savings will adversely affect the sleep patterns of teenagers. Somehow, Standard time is better.
But no, some people would rather be sure of themselves and wrong than consider the facts and have to think.
East-West
The principle of time zones should be simple. Let’s use Alberta for an example. On the spring equinox, sunrise hits the Maniitoba border at some specific time. Fifteen degrees west of there, sunrise hits exactly one hour later. For convenience’s sake, everyone in Alberta sets their clocks half-way in between.
Across the Border…
For every teenager in Lake Louise, Alberta losing an hour’s sleep under Daylight Savings, there’s a teenager a hundred clicks down the highway in Golden, B. C gaining an hour. And another in Medicine Hat with an hour’s difference to contend with. That is literally the way the world turns.
Which will maybe help people realize this is a situation where the greatest good goes to the greatest number of people, and if your luck is bad, well, it really doesn’t matter that much anyway. People have been putting up with two changes a year for decades, and that has caused real problems.
North-South
The other pertinent fact: the farther north you go, the more the sunlight changes, right up to the Arctic Circle, where they get the Midnight Sun and nighttime at noon. So, all you people who live along the US border, if you’re complaining about darkness at five in the afternoon, remember that the whole population of Edmonton has been getting that every winter forever. It doesn’t seem to have bothered them any.
The Political Choice
There are times when leaders should form a policy and forge ahead, drawing their followers behind them because of the scientific and logical power of their ideas. There are also times when leaders need to look over their shoulders and see where their voters are headed, and lead in that direction.
This is time for the latter approach. I don’t know the reasons why the government in Victoria chose to go on permanent Daylight Savings, except that there is something called “UTC-7” which Alberta is going to follow starting this fall. Note that the Yukon is already on permanent UTC-7 already. Ontario seems likely to go with UTC-4, with an 80% popular opinion. I think this would mean Alberta and B. C. will be on the same time zone, three hours off Ontario. Unfortunately, the western states of US are not planning to follow suit. Premier Eby and his party seem to have decided to go with a Canadian option. Given the present political climate, this is not unexpected.
The Bottom Line
Every argument you make for Standard time, no matter how logical or science-based, is de facto an argument for Daylight Savings on the opposite side of your time zone. If you really, really, believe that your teenager’s mental health will be affected by staying on Daylight Savings, all you have to do is pack up your family and move to the other side of the time zone.
Of course, that would mean figuring out which side of the time zone is more like Standard Time. Which would require you to actually THINK about the problem. Then maybe you would be able to realize that it really doesn’t make much difference.
The only reason to opt for one or the other is a matter of convenience. The whole point is to do what everyone else is doing. At the moment, it seems that British Columbia has made a choice that stays in step with the rest of Canada. So be it.