Canadians will be regaining their hour of sleep they lost back in the springtime, so here’s everything you need to know about this year’s ‘fall back’.

Daylight Savings Time In British Columbia

DST had its beginnings in 1908 when Port Arthur, Ontario (now modern-day Thunder Bay) residents shuffled their clocks forward by an hour to mark the beginning of the time change. Although this was only a local implementation, it eventually became national in the late 1960s.

The rationale behind DST is to conserve energy and make use of available daylight, although this reasoning has been challenged as some believe that DST is more trouble than it’s worth. 

According to a 2022 policy proposal from the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, “there are… studies that tell us that the [time] change itself can cause accidents, injuries, and even deaths. Many of these issues are related to sleep pattern change that the biennial shift mandates.” They list a number of recorded issues, cited in a variety of studies:

• Sleep loss
• Heart attacks
• Traffic accidents

The Chamber ultimately recommends that the Provincial Government “collaborates with Washington State, Oregon and California to have the Pacific Time Zone in Canada and U.S.A to remain on DST throughout the year.”

Permanent Time

The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce isn’t the only group to request the B.C. government to remain permanently on DST. From Quebec to Ontario, a number of provinces have expressed their desire to stay on a consistent time during the year.

As for B.C., a 2019 survey revealed that the majority of British Columbians wanted to get rid of DST altogether. When the Province proposed to make DST permanent, “93% of British Columbian respondents indicated support for the change in a record-breaking public engagement.” 

Nothing has come of this as of yet, in spite of the overwhelming support for the amendment act. For now, you’ll just have to fall back on November 2, 2025.

Source: 604NOW