By Cheryl Jahn

BC Opposition moves to scrub time change

Mar 14, 2025 | 3:58 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Many attribute Daylight Savings Time to Franklin D Roosevelt. At the time – 1942 – it was called “war time.” Farmers and ranchers hated it then. And they still do.

“Livestock like routine, like to be fed at the same time of day, every day that their animals are on the clock,” explains Tom deWaal with the BC Cattlemen’s Association. “Animals will do the same thing at the same time. Pretty much every single day. It just becomes rotation. So when you start affecting the timelines of when you’re going to feed or water, cattle or whatever you’re doing with them, that will affect the way the animals behave.”

Springing forward in the spring has more of an impact on the farmers; the early risers have to get up at what feels like an earlier time in the morning. But it’s in October, when the clocks fall back, that cattle are most impacted.

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“Well, it really affects me, too,” says deWaal. “I wish Roosevelt would have gave me a call before he decided to implement that kind of thing. But I guess it, certain times of the year, what I would call the times that are on the bubble, when that hour changes, that’s the difference between daylight and dark. I mean anybody who cares for livestock has to be able to put their eyes on the livestock and see if an animal’s sick or whatever the case may be, it’s hard to do. You can’t do it in the dark.”

And time change became a Bill in the Legislature yesterday, with Opposition Leader John Rustad introducing the Interpretation Uniform Pacific Time Zone Amendment Act, which would eliminate the requirement to change time twice a year.

This isn’t the first time such a bill as introduced. Then-Attorney General and Now-Premier David Eby introduced a similar bill in 2019. Yet it was never fully implemented because the government of the day said it would wait for Americans to make the change.

So what is the challenge to to ending the tradition of changing time twice a year. “It isn’t challenging to change it,” stated Rustad. “It’s one simple law that needs to be enacted. It’s a simple process. But what it is is there just isn’t the political will by this government to do it. And what they’re worried about is they’re worried about trade with the Americans.”

deWaal says, honestly, regardless of the clock the wall, the sun determines when the works and ends.

“Generally what we will do, rather than even pay attention to the clock, we’ll just pay attention to the light. And that’s the way we try to do it, But definitely, Daylight Savings Time is definitely a pain for agriculture.”

So, once again the bill to end time change will be added to the orders of the day for the next sitting of the Legislature at the end of the month.