Daylight Saving Time Year-Round? I'll Vote No

 

Three weeks from now, as we settle in to the first week of November, we will have set our clocks back one hour as most of us in North America have been doing since the early 20^th century. Our return to Standard Time means more daylight in the morning – as in, an earlier sunrise – but for the next four months, late afternoon darkness will descend on us around 5pm.

We now observe Standard Time for only a bit more than a third of the year and for the remainder – between the first week of March and early November – our clocks are set to what we call Daylight Saving Time (DST). A construct of the World War 1 period, DST was initially created to save energy. Proponents also point to certain safety benefits and to some economic advantages related to recreation. Before the advent of DST, we remained on Standard Time year-round.

Jeremy Roberts, Ontario MPP for the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, introduced a Private Member’s Bill (Bill 214) in the Legislature on October 7^th. It proposes that Ontario abolish Standard Time and remain on DST year-round. We tend to hear much more griping when we “spring forward” by setting our clocks ahead one hour in March (thereby losing an hour’s sleep) than we do in November when we gain it back. It certainly seems like a pain-in-the-ass adjusting our clocks and our circadian rhythms twice annually and the idea of scrapping the current twice yearly practice of switching between DST and Standard Time seems to have both popular support and a measure of political support too as the Ontario government has indicated that it just might support the bill. As with many seemingly simple and logical ideas, the devil is in the details so before we all proclaim our agreement to scrap Standard Time altogether, let’s look at what it would mean.

After we switch to Standard Time at 2am on Sunday November 1^st, on the following day, Monday November 2^nd, in Toronto, the sun will rise just before 7am and will set just after 5pm. We will have 10 hours of daylight and 14 hours of darkness. Fast forward to the winter solstice on December 21^st and our daylight hours are reduced to less than nine hours with sunrise at 7.50am and sunset at 4.43pm. In the days leading up to Christmas, most of us, if we still go to work at all, will be doing so in morning daylight and then returning home in late afternoon darkness. Children making their way to and from school will enjoy daylight for each leg of their journey.

Were we to remain on DST through the dark winter months, as Bill 214 proposes, morning daylight would then come an hour later. In Toronto, between November and March, that would mean darkness until almost 9am with most commuters and students completing their morning journeys before daybreak. Yes, evening darkness would come an hour later as well with the December 21^st sunset coming at 5.43pm – before most commuters have arrived home anyway.

I, for one, am an early riser. I like morning daylight and would prefer not to wait until 9am before I see it. For me, that’s more than just another reason not to move to Edmonton (although I would enjoy having summer sunlight last until well after 10pm). It seems to me that Standard Time during the darkest months of the year offers the most judicious use of our nine or 10 hours of daylight. It allows for safe and well-lit travel to and from school for children even if the afternoon commute home for workers is done mostly in darkness. Changing the few battery or wind-up clocks I have somehow feels like a right-of-passage which marks the changing of the seasons. Besides, when else would we know to change the batteries in our smoke alarms?

The most reasonable part of Bill 214 is its provision that no abolition of Standard Time will take place in Ontario unless two of our important neighbouring jurisdictions – Quebec and New York State – also agree to scrap it. This may come one day. If it ever does, I plan to personally continue with Standard Time between November and March. If I’ve agreed to meet with you at any time over the winter, I’ll be an hour late so adjust your schedule accordingly.

I’ll post next on Wednesday after the Corona Bowl, also known as the World Premiere of NFL Tuesday Night Football. If the game goes ahead.