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Go Figure: We clock in on the debate over Daylight Saving Time

Canada ranks first among countries that have used DST the longest

By Michael McCullough /

On March 10, we all “spring forward” by an hour, despite the passage of a 2019 law aimed at ending the practice in B.C. Switching twice a year between Standard Time and Daylight Saving has come under increasing scrutiny—so we’re casting our own eye on some numbers around the clock.

  • Thunder Bay, Ontario, adopted Daylight Saving Time in 1908
  • Canada ranks first among countries that have used DST the longest
  • Nine provinces switch to DST at this time of year, the exception being Saskatchewan, which stays on Central Standard Time year-round. B.C.’s northeast, Yukon and pockets of Ontario and Quebec likewise eschew the time change
  • Approximately 70 countries around the world observe some form of DST, including most of Europe. Major exceptions: China, India and Japan
  • 93 percent of 223,273 respondents to a B.C. government survey in 2019 favoured adopting DST year-round. Organizations voicing support included the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, B.C. Golf and the Vancouver Airport Authority (with the caveat that the change be made in concert with America’s West Coast states)
  • A 2014 study by the University of Colorado at Boulder linked a 17 percent increase in traffic fatalities to sleep deprivation caused by springing ahead

Sources: Government of B.C., CBC, Nasdaq, NPR, UB

Michael McCullough

Michael McCullough

Michael is a financial journalist based in the Cowichan Valley. He's a former managing editor of Canadian Business and editorial director of Canada Wide Media, BCBusiness's publisher. In 2024, he co-authored Personal Finance for Canadians for Dummies, 7th Edition (Wiley, 2024).