Clocks will “spring” forward this weekend in most Canadian households in the semi-annual adjustment to our lives.
Many Canadians either love or hate this ritual, and in Saskatchewan, the central prairie province, they just ignore it, remaining on central standard time year round.
In 1966 they scrapped the time change though some border towns do comply in keeping with their neighbours in Canada, or to the south.
Clock-changing, can be an arduous task for some. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Daylight Saving Time, as it’s known, is the move to optimise the daylight.
First proposed by Benjamin Franklin in the 1770’s, to save candles, the idea was eventually embraced by Germany in 1915.
Britain quickly followed as did Canada and the United States during the First World War.
Canada changed the dates in 2007, three weeks earlier in the spring, and a week later in the fall, to align with changes in the United States.
Ontario’s premier at the time, Dalton McGuinty said,
“We’re not anxious to have a disconnect between us and our chief trading partner.”
Debate, however, continues over the pros and cons of the time change.
The negative effects on people show up in the satistical increase in fatal car accidents, heart attacks and strokes at the beginning of Daylight Saving Time every year.
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