Let’s not change the clocks, but stay on Daylight time year-round

By Letter to the Editor on March 25, 2019.

Every year around this time people are raising the issue of Daylight Saving Time (DST) again. There is a need to seriously consider doing away with the twice annual time change.

However it is submitted that the issue is not really Standard versus Daylight time, as most people probably do not have strong opinions on one over the other. What seems to be almost unanimously agreed upon is people don’t like changing the time, mostly in the spring, but also in the fall. People want to stay on Standard or Daylight time year round.

So that leaves the real question, do we want Standard time, or Daylight time? It is submitted that if this conversation were being held last August, most people would just say, let’s not go back. People would be satisfied staying on DST. To be sure in the summer time, here north of the 49th parallel, the issue of DST is really moot, because with our long twilight hours, there is no shortage of daylight morning or evening. But in the winter it’s not so simple. As we approach the winter solstice, it’s dark morning and evening. People already go to work and school in the dark, so the extra daylight in the morning when we revert back to Standard time, is more or less lost to useful outside activity.

However our society tends to socialize in the evening, and leaving the extra hour of daylight in the evening makes good sense. Children would have extra time to play outdoors after school. Who goes skating at a community rink, or shopping at 7 a.m.?

So if the government is seriously considering this again, it is hoped that the government will move on eliminating the twice annual time changes, but it is suggested most people would prefer remaining on Daylight time.

Now is the time to think and plan about doing away with the time change as October rolls around quickly.

Lutz Perschon

Medicine Hat

9
-8