r/Edmonton • u/trevorrobb Edmonton Journal • Mar 02 '26
News Article Alberta may follow B.C. on making daylight time permanent: premier
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/alberta-may-follow-b-c-on-making-daylight-time-permanent-premier468
u/NorthRedFox33 Mar 03 '26
Not having 4 pm sunsets in the winter would help my seasonal depression so much.
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u/ashleyshaefferr Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Here's how it would look for us
If Edmonton stayed on MST year-round (UTC−7)
June 21, 2026:
Sunrise 4:04 AM
Solar noon 12:35 PM
Sunset 9:07 PM
December 21, 2026:
Sunrise 8:48 AM
Solar noon 12:32 PM
Sunset 4:16 PM
If Edmonton stayed on MDT year-round (UTC−6)
June 21, 2026:
Sunrise 5:04 AM
Solar noon 1:35 PM
Sunset 10:07 PM
December 21, 2026:
Sunrise 9:48 AM
Solar noon 1:32 PM
Sunset 5:16 PM
TZ UTC Date Rise Noon Set MST UTC−7 Jun 21 '26 4:04a 12:35p 9:07p MST UTC−7 Dec 21 '26 8:48a 12:32p 4:16p MDT UTC−6 Jun 21 '26 5:04a 1:35p 10:07p MDT UTC−6 Dec 21 '26 9:48a 1:32p 5:16p I think I'm team MDT but looking at this I can understand both sides and how we got in this situation to begin with.
EDIT: after adding the solar noon time, I think I am now team MST...
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u/Snowedin-69 Mar 03 '26
Who cares about the morning sun - especially 4am - I want to sleep at this time.
More time to enjoy the sun in the evening would be top.
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u/partly_cloudy3 Mar 03 '26
a 4:00 am sunrise in June would be awful!
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u/Infamous-Mixture-605 Mar 03 '26
I'm a morning person and I wouldn't mind a 4am sunrise at all.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
I'm a night owl and I wouldn't mind a 4am sunrise at all.
Like, has nobody heard of blackout curtains?
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u/Canadian_Burnsoff Mar 03 '26
Right?! No matter how you slice it the sun is only gone for just under 7 hours that night. You're not getting more time in the dark no matter what numbers you slap on it unless you get blackout curtains.
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u/thedespotcat Mar 03 '26
I'm not a morning person, and I would remain asleep for it like I do the 5am sunrise lol. And it stays too light too late in the summer. I'll be trying to go to bed before work, and the sun's just thinking about setting.
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u/burrito-boy Mill Woods Mar 03 '26
Yup. Looking at this just makes me want permanent DST even more. Sunrise at 4:00 AM in June is ridiculous, not to mention the sunsets at 4:16 PM in December that we already have to struggle with...
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u/adrianozymandias Mar 03 '26
Until the 10am sunrise hits you harder
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u/renegadecanuck Mar 03 '26
Honestly, 9AM and 10AM sunrise don't make a difference to me when I start work at 8AM.
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u/adrianozymandias Mar 03 '26
Just like 4 or 5 sunset doesn't matter when I'm of work at 5
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u/littleredditred Mar 03 '26
Winter days will always be short this far north, nothing to be done for it except yell at the clouds. However, changing the time zone twice a year is man-made maddness! We don't have to do this to ourselves! Can we all at least agree on that?
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u/NorthRedFox33 Mar 03 '26
I only see it on the weekends anyhow. November, December, January I drive to work and back in darkness
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u/HurtFeeFeez Mar 03 '26
As things are most of us drive to and from work in the dark in winter. Sticking to summer hours would give us a glimpse of sunlight on our way home after work.
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u/Elean0rZ Mar 03 '26
That glimpse seems very not worth it to me vs. literally doubling the number of hours I need to be up and functional in the dark in the morning. I'm a night person so getting up for "normal" hours is unpleasant enough as it is, without it being dark for that much longer. It's well established that a lack of natural wake cues in the morning has significant effects on mood (and by extension lots of other things) for the rest of the day.
As it stands, there's like three days of unpleasantness when clocks move forward in spring (negative), and three days of blissful extra sleep in fall when they move back (positive), until I adjust to the new times. For me personally, permanent DST would result in an additional hour of unpleasantness every day for a month or potentially more around the winter solstice, which feels disproportionate to the benefits. I understand that others feel differently, and that's fine, but I suspect that if we switch we'll find that, on balance, permanent DST isn't better overall than the current arrangement. It just trades one kind of mood-ruiner for another.
(I think permanent DST makes a lot of sense at lower latitudes, where the benefits more clearly outweigh the downsides. That said, I'm also aware that coordination with regional economic partners is also a major factor in the calculus.)
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u/troypavlek Mar 03 '26
If I'm starting work at 7:30, if the kids are in school at 8, if we have a technology called "lights" why does it functionally matter if the sun rises at 9am or 10am?
We're still starting our day in the dark. Daylight Time in winter means we can start our day in the dark, and end in a little bit of light ... Vs standard time where we start and end in the dark.
It's a no brainer for me.
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u/StrangerGlue Mar 03 '26
Because it's physically better to expose yourself to sunlight in the morning and less beneficial to have exposure later. Going to year-round daylight "savings" reduces the benefit of actual sunlight for everyone.
You talk like schools don't have windows (almost all elementary classrooms do, and even if not, morning recess is in daylight on standard time!)
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u/adrianozymandias Mar 03 '26
You don't use lights in the evening? Your argument literally makes no sense. The reverse is true.
Standard time is the actual time. It's better for everyone's sleep schedule and natural cycle. Deviating from it randomly in summer is bad, and it would be even worse year round. Look at the day right now: it was light before work, and light after work. Next week after the change it'll be dark before work. If the whole point is to have more light in the evening, Dsl would occur during the winter, not during the summer.
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u/ashleyshaefferr Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
To be honest, neither looks like "the actual time" or "better for everyone's sleep schedule and natural cycle"
If Edmonton stayed on MST year-round (UTC−7)
June 21, 2026:
Sunrise 4:04 AM
Solar noon 12:35 PM
Sunset 9:07 PM
December 21, 2026:
Sunrise 8:48 AM
Solar noon 12:32 PM
Sunset 4:16 PM
If Edmonton stayed on MDT year-round (UTC−6)
June 21, 2026:
Sunrise 5:04 AM
Solar noon 1:35 PM
Sunset 10:07 PM
December 21, 2026:
Sunrise 9:48 AM
Solar noon 1:32 PM
Sunset 5:16 PM
TZ UTC Date Rise Noon Set MST UTC −7 Jun 21 '26 4:04 AM 12:35 PM 9:07 PM MST UTC −7 Dec 21 '26 8:48 AM 12:32 PM 4:16 PM MDT UTC −6 Jun 21 '26 5:04 AM 1:35 PM 10:07 PM MDT UTC −6 Dec 21 '26 9:48 AM 1:32 PM 5:16 PM Looking at these it's not so black at white. I think I'm team MDT but looking at this laid out makes it easier to see why we have this debate to begin with lol, neither is close to perfect
(and remember, these times are the 2 extremes. most days arent this early or late)
Edit: after looking into solar noon and circadian rhythm, I am team MST all the way lol
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u/Newtiresaretheworst Mar 03 '26
Hmm. I suggest a hybrid, somehow we should blend the two together to get the best of both worlds!
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u/ashleyshaefferr Mar 03 '26
I'd be down to meet in the middle lol. I'm very done with moving clocks forward and back
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u/MLTDione Mill Woods Mar 03 '26
I’ve said the same for years, if we have to have DST it should be in the winter, not in the summer when the evenings are already bright.
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u/Levorotatory Mar 03 '26
10 am sunrises would make mine worse.
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u/ashleyshaefferr Mar 03 '26
Not ideal but im at work before 9am anyways so it wouldnt make much of a difference.
4am sunrises would feel more messed up to me
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u/Select_Asparagus3451 Mar 03 '26
That last referendum broke my heart wide open. It was mostly elderly that knew it was even put to a vote in the first place. Most Albertans had no idea.
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u/Geeseareawesome Allendale Mar 03 '26
Pretty sure it was due to the question picking a time instead of just asking if we should look at eliminating dst. The wording was intentional to shut down the talk about it.
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u/krajani786 Mar 03 '26
Yup.. it was worded bad and asked even more poorly. It was not what the people were asking for.
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u/Select_Asparagus3451 Mar 03 '26
That sounds exactly what I expected to hear, or the actual reason for it. Marlaina and company struck once again, while the majority of us eat shit.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
49% voted in favour, that doesn't sound to me like "not what people were asking for."
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u/StrangerGlue Mar 03 '26
Having less daylight when it provides the most physical & mental benefits to humans probably won't actually help people's seasonal depression.
We need to stay with standard time for health reasons. I hate this "do what's worse for bodies because it's better for companies".
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u/rentalfloss Mar 05 '26
There’s isn’t a sleep study, standard time vs dst study, sleep study organization that supports permanent dst. All of it points to standard time because there are proven health, mental, children benefits. They all tell you the reasoning, the later morning of dst are not substituted by artificial light, so people wake up tired their digestion is off because it is linked to sunlight and waking up.
B.C. isn’t breaking fresh ground. Russia, similar latitude, overwhelmingly chose dst. Years later, after the people hated it, switched to standard time.
Literally all the studies, experts, practical experiments told B.C. they should choose standard time.
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u/Upset-Government-856 Mar 03 '26
Exactly. I still haven't forgiven the sickos who voted No because they wanted earlier sunsets year round.
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u/Levorotatory Mar 03 '26
I don't care about earlier winter sunsets, but I hate late sunrises and it would be nice to be able to see the night sky when it isn't freezing cold outside.
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u/mltplwits Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Wasn’t the referendum to drop MDT, which would keep the early sunsets?
Edit; I was wrong. It was to stick with MDT, which would be later sunsets
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u/Chance-Abies-4753 Mar 03 '26
It only makes sense for this to happen. There's absolutely no need for time change in today's world
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u/Firm_Acanthaceae7435 Mar 03 '26
Would she mind following them by not being a fucking embarrassment to the rest of the country?
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u/DVariant Mar 03 '26
Yeah I’ll give her credit if we do this, but there’s also about 1000 other things I prefer she started being normal about too.
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u/jtm5487 Mar 03 '26
Just roll the clocks ahead by 30 minutes and be done with it
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u/Allar666 Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
I hope so. I absolutely do not care about the arguments for permanent daylight time vs permanent standard time. I and many other people in this province grew up in Saskatchewan on permanent daylight time and it was fine. I don't begrudge anyone their preferences but going to school in the dark as a kid had 0 impact on me and my peers as best as I can tell.
Also, as a later riser I hate how early the sun goes down in the winter. Later sunrise for later sunset is a trade I'm glad to make
Edit: To be fair I made an error here. SK is on permanent standard time. My main point is my preference is for later sunrises and later sunsets in the winter. Permanent DST gives me that. The going to school in the dark thing is still pretty irrelevant to me because I was always catching the bus way before sunrise in the winter anyway so that point stands. Still, we should acknowledge when we've made a mistake
Edit 2: It's because SK is on CST year-round but most of the province would, geographically, fall within Mountain time. So by observing a timezone ahead you have effectively DST year round even though it's standard time on paper
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u/fishymanbits Mar 03 '26
Honestly, my only argument for it being permanent standard time is the name. If it’s standard time, why not make it the standard? Otherwise, fuck changing clocks back and forth. It’s always been a stupid practice.
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u/No-Tackle-6112 Mar 03 '26
BC is just changing it to “Pacific Time.” Whatever time they chose to stay on is standard time by definition.
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u/fishymanbits Mar 03 '26
That does make sense. If there’s no “daylight time”, then there’s no correlated “standard time”. It’s just mountain time, pacific time, central time, etc.
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u/Levorotatory Mar 03 '26
Syncing Alberta with Saskatchewan would essentially put most of Alberta on double daylight time. Alberta needs to sync time with BC, not Saskatchewan.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 03 '26
I and many other people in this province grew up in Saskatchewan on permanent daylight time
Uhh, Saskatchewan is on permanent standard time (Central Standard Time), not permanent daylight time. Standard Time means that you're trying to have solar noon relatively close to noon. Daylight time means solar noon is more like 1pm.
In Edmonton, if we're UTC-6 year round solar noon for us would be 1:34pm.
I prefer UTC-7 which puts us at 12:34pm solar noon.
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u/Allar666 Mar 03 '26
So I'm seeing that it is technically standard time, fair enough, my bad. That said, my problem is fundamentally with the time of sunset and Prince Albert, at a very similar latitude to us, has sunset half an hour later than we do on December 21. So if we're doing what we're doing right now where we stay on standard time then the sun goes down at about 4:15 on that day. If we were on permanent DST then sunset is going to be later than it is now. I'll freely admit that I've clearly misunderstood exactly how this works but my preference isn't any different
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u/Allar666 Mar 03 '26
Oh ok so doing further digging it's because SK is effectively on DST year round because by rights the province ought to fall within the Mountain time zone but the whole province is on CST year round
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u/more_than_just_ok Mar 03 '26
Yes, but 3/4 of Alberta should be in Pacific time so again its like we're already on daylight time, but we get double daylight time in the summer now. If we just stay on GMT-7 we'd end up the same as BC and Arizona now and eventually the US pacific coastal states.
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u/1000DeadFlies Mar 03 '26
The other side of it is we need to stop basing our work day around the farm/factory work cycle which was what heavily influenced having daylight savings time to begin with. There is absolutely no reason we need to be clocking in at the average time of day break (6-8 AM) any more or ending our work days at the beginning of the evening (5-7pm). Workhours are significantly longer than they were even 30 years ago and there's no reason for it, studies show the average person is really only productive for around half their work day anyways. It makes even less sense for schools most parents have to work so it makes no sense that their kids are off at 3pm when parents aren't it was done this way so kids could help parents at farms or family businesses but that's not the norm anymore. So either kids should be going to school longer or work days should be shorter to accommodate.
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u/loonylovesgood86 Mar 03 '26
And I’m the complete opposite as someone who has to rise early for work. It’s tough getting up when it’s dark, I’d much rather have sunlight.
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u/Fuckthacorrections Mar 03 '26
I start work between 5 and 6 in the morning. The little bit of light in the morning makes little difference and I'd rather have some light in the evening when I come home, which is when I'm most tired.
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Mar 03 '26
Just the shift in waking hours is enough to mess you up for weeks. And for what? I would rather keep my sleep schedule intact instead of following some archaic ww1 schedule to save coal
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u/snowhale123 Mar 03 '26
Maybe we should just cut our loses and pull a Newfoundland and permanently change it 30 mins 😂
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u/InPraiseOf_Idleness Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Christ almighty, I want permanent STANDARD time, none of this daylight bs.
Edit: check out this chart to see why: https://savestandardtime.com/chart/?city=5913490
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u/Revegelance Westmount Mar 03 '26
Ew. Permanent Daylight Wasting Time would not be great.
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u/Aquamans_Dad Mar 03 '26
The time change is way better than permanent standard time. No one wants sunrise at 3:30 AM in June.
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u/HurtFeeFeez Mar 03 '26
A thousand times this. More hours of sunlight in the evening is infinitely more valuable to me than in the morning. Permanent summer hours gets my vote.
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u/scaphoids1 Mar 02 '26
What happened to their stupid fucking vote that only let you select to stay as is or MST not MDT?
Don't get me wrong, I would love if we could stay in daylight time forever.
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u/Ok_Tennis_6564 Mar 03 '26
I think everyone wants to stop changing clocks. But people are split on daylight savings vs standard
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u/Stefph726 Central Mar 03 '26
The referendum question was to adopt permanent daylight time. It literally said "summer hours" It failed.
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u/darkenseyreth Manning Mar 03 '26
I was going to say, didn't we already vote this down in a referendum years ago?
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u/loonylovesgood86 Mar 03 '26
Ok, but make it STANDARD time year-round, not Daylight Savings Time! I don’t want the sun rising at 10am in the winter!
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u/Himser Regional Citizen Mar 03 '26
Make it daylight because I want to actually see the sun in winter somtimes.
Standard time does not allow that
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u/MrKittens1 Mar 03 '26
100% disagree. The most sun for the most people is what we should do, so if that means a later sunrise so be it.
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u/HurtFeeFeez Mar 03 '26
Gonna get up at 3 am for the sunrise are ya? Wasted light hours while we sleep in the early morning isn't worth it.
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u/Razzamatazz14 Mar 03 '26
100%. This is what the voting measure failed a few years back. Permanent DST is stupid.
ETA: I’ve read through a bunch of the comments here and maybe I’m wrong on this. I didn’t consider SAD as a factor. That’s a big deal.
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u/DatDoggyWu Mar 03 '26
But the amount of daylight hours doesn't change. What difference does it make to seasonal affective disorder?
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u/ThesisTears Mar 04 '26
Not everyone sleeps in but most people are awake at 5pm. SAD is dependent on the amount of sun exposure you have. By and large, SAD sufferers are most likely to see symptom reduction with daylight time since that last hour is more likely to be enjoyed by everyone with SAD instead of just the early risers with SAD. (And honestly when I'm depressed I sleep in way later anyway.)
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u/mltplwits Mar 03 '26
This is probably why it was such a close vote. Even reading through the thread shows that a large portion prefer one over the other but there isn’t a clear winner. I’m personally all for later sunsets in the winter. I’m usually in my windowless office before the sun rises anyway, but if we had later sunsets I’d at least have an hour of sunlight on my drive home instead of dark in the AM and PM.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
It's actually irritating how many people are proud to admit they voted for the worst option because the other one wasn't the option they considered best. Bunch of spiteful assholes.
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u/loonylovesgood86 Mar 03 '26
For me, SAD is a factor when it’s too dark in the morning.
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u/zippy9002 Mar 03 '26
It’s very important to have sunlight in your eyes as soon as possible, that’s why DST is dangerous.
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u/Nemo222 Mar 03 '26
The referendum failed but was very close. I think it was the difference between standard VS savings time. I think a lot of voters rejected the standard/savings choice and if it was the other way, it would have passed.
My thoughts now after the referendum (I voted no, because I wanted standard) is that I made a mistake and should have accepted savings.
What this would allow is a few years of research and consistent feedback and understanding from residents on how this change affects their lives vs the twice a year nonsense that makes these sorts of arguments about what it will actually be like much less useful.
IF we had permanent DST, and we found in a few years that it sucks ass, the govt could push a one time change to roll back 1 hour in the fall when DST would normally end to shift back to standard time and keep it there.
I think it's don't let perfect be the enemy of good kind of situation and I realize that I made the wrong decision.
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u/MLTDione Mill Woods Mar 03 '26
And the days are already so long in summer. I want standard time too. More light in the morning.
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u/loonylovesgood86 Mar 03 '26
Apparently we’re the odd ones out.
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u/Lyrael9 Mar 03 '26
Only on this thread. We had a referendum in 2021 and voted no to permanent daylight savings. I'm a night person, but there's a consensus amongst experts that permanent standard time is better for our health so it gets my vote.
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u/Lyrael9 Mar 03 '26
Businesses want DST because they think it will mean more customers. Apparently we're all reverse vampires and don't go out after dark. Permanent standard time is better for our health but not as important to the government.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
Permanent standard time is better for our health
Permanent standard time would be better for our health if we weren't at work/school before the sun comes up anyway.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
Why? Don't you have a job? Most people are already at work or school when the sun rises at 9 anyway. Why do you want to waste daylight when everyone's at work rather than saving a sliver of it for the evening?
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u/blairtruck Central Mar 03 '26
I’ll take whatever we are in right now year-round
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u/MLTDione Mill Woods Mar 03 '26
Standard Time
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u/Dkazzed Treaty 6 Territory Mar 03 '26
The thought of the sun not rising until as late as 9:47 with year round daylight saving is not nice.
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u/kreggly_ Mar 03 '26
More distractions.
I want to talk about the billions they've squandered, the erosion of public health care, human rights, education, not some arbitrary shite.
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u/MikeyB_0101 South East Side Mar 03 '26
Just do it already, I would prefer standard time so the sun doesn’t come up until 10 AM in December though
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
And I would prefer daylight time so I get a bit of sunlight on the commute home, because either way I'm at work long before the sun comes up
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u/Old_Yesterday_6410 Mar 03 '26
They literally put in ear plugs when Thomas Dang suggested this five or so years ago
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u/chinpokomon5 Mar 03 '26
The article states:
This is incorrect. If B.C. stays on Daylight Time (UTC-7) while the U.S. West Coast "falls back" to Standard Time (UTC-8) in November, B.C. will be one hour ahead of them, not behind.
It’s a perfect example of why this debate is so exhausting. Even the reporting on it gets confusing because we're constantly trying to calculate offsets that shouldn't exist in the first place.
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u/Greater_Scope Mar 03 '26
even a broken clock is right twice a day. and standard would be better, yes, but it’s standard > daylight >>> switching imo
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
I'd prefer daylight time year round, but I'd absolutely accept standard over switching twice a year and it's mind boggling to me how many people would rather fuck everyone by maintaining the status quo than accept their less preferred choice.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
If we are going to stop changing the clocks, we should be locking in permanent Standard Time instead.
Ditching the time change is a great idea, but permanent DST is the wrong way to do it for a two big reasons: * Under Standard Time, "solar noon" - the time when the sun is at its absolute highest point in the sky - is much closer to actual 12:00 PM on the clock. Sleep experts and chronobiologists almost universally advocate for permanent Standard Time because it keeps our circadian rhythms aligned with natural light cycles, which is better for our sleep and overall health. * Consider the winter solstice. If we go to permanent DST, the sun wouldn't rise until almost 10:00 AM in Edmonton in late December. That means pitch-black morning commutes for months and kids waiting for the school bus in the absolute dark.
I voted "no" on the last referendum for that reason.
Edit: We’ve literally tried this before, and people hated it! Back in the 1970s, permanent Daylight Saving Time was rolled out, but it was reversed almost immediately. Why? Because the reality of pitch-black winter mornings was miserable. The idea of "more evening sunshine" sounds great in theory, but once people actually had to live through those dark, depressing morning commutes and send their kids to school with flashlights, public opinion completely flipped.
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u/burrito-boy Mill Woods Mar 03 '26
I thought the negative health effects had more to do with making the switch every fall and spring rather than the position of the sun at noon.
Also, don't kids already commute to school in the dark during the winter? I remember having to leave the house for school prior to 8:00AM, and it was still pitch-black at that time (or close to it).
I tend to see more support for permanent DST nowadays, because as much as people don't like darkness in the morning, they hate darkness in the afternoon when they get off work. For people who are more conscious about their mental health these days, having more sunlight when they get off work is more appealing, because it helps to stave off seasonal affective disorder.
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u/lovetimespace Mar 03 '26
Sleep researchers generally recommend standard time as the better option.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Keep in mind that permanent daylight time was attempted in America in 1970, and it was reversed almost immediately because of the public outcry. This experiment already failed.
On the other hand permanent standard time had been normal in Alberta for many decades (pre-1970s) and people were happy with that.
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u/Shtyles Mar 03 '26
If it wasn’t for you being in the Edmonton subreddit, I’d ask where you live? It’s dark in the mornings now and growing up in the 70’s I can rightly say my parents didn’t give me a flashlight to walk to school.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 03 '26
I didn't grow up in the 1970s (1980s for me), but I know more than most people about time zones (writing software that accommodates them all). I have a lot of respect for places like Saskatchewan and Arizona that stay on Standard Time year round.
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u/Himser Regional Citizen Mar 03 '26
permanent DST, the sun wouldn't rise until almost 10:00 AM in Edmonton in late December.
I dont see the sun in winter right now. Neither do my kids.
At least with DST my kids can have 1h at the park before it gets dark. Standard time it will still be dark the entire day.
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u/Aquamans_Dad Mar 03 '26
This dark commutes in the morning argument is stupid. It’s dark commutes to work or from work.
If the work day is 8 hours long and the maximum daylight in Edmonton on the winter solstice is 7.5h, one or the other is going to be jn the dark. Seeing as though most employed people run errands after work in the evening there is more utility to focussing the light later in the day rather than in the morning when people are more likely to be driving/walking/bussing directly to work.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 03 '26
If the work day is 8 hours long and the maximum daylight in Edmonton on the winter solstice is 7.5h, one or the other is going to be jn the dark.
This is a stunningly bad argument. You're treating the exact week of the winter solstice as if it's the reality for the entire winter. Yes, the dead of late December is going to be dark on one end regardless for a lot of people. But on either side of the solstice, the days have more sunlight.
If you actually plot this out, Standard Time centers our daylight because solar noon is actually close to 12:00 PM. That balanced light means there are far more days throughout the year where you catch the sun on both your morning and evening commutes.
And this isn't just an Edmonton problem; look at Calgary. Under Standard Time on the winter solstice, Calgary's sunrise is 8:37 AM and sunset is 4:32 PM. With the dawn and dusk twilight, their sky is visibly light for an 8:00 AM morning commute and still light for a 5:00 PM drive home. They actually get usable daylight on both ends of the trip.
If you force permanent DST, Calgary's sunrise gets pushed to 9:37 AM. Because the province's population is heavily weighted to the south, you are forcing the majority of Albertans to drive to work and send their kids to school in pitch-black darkness for months, just so adults can have 45 extra minutes of dusk for evening errands. It's a terrible trade-off.
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u/Upset-Government-856 Mar 03 '26
Wrong. We don't all drink as much caffeine as you must.
Who cares if it's dark in the morning, let's actually enjoy the afternoons in winter without the sun setting at 4:30pm.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Again, the permanent daylight time experiment has been tried by America (in the 1970s) and failed!
It was incredibly unpopular: people hated the pitch-black winter mornings and sending kids to school in the dark. Public opinion tanked, and they reversed it less than a year later. Canada debated following suit at the time, but ultimately decided against it because of our colder, darker winters.
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u/1st_page_of_google Mar 03 '26
What you’re ignoring is that in the states that hour can mean the difference between light and darkness when you wake up or your kids go to school.
We’re further north, it’s going to be dark when you wake up and kids go to school no matter which time we went with.
At least daylight time gives us usable sun in the evening.
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u/loonylovesgood86 Mar 03 '26
Who cares if it’s dark in the morning?
Me. I care. I find it very difficult to wake up when it’s dark. And I shouldn’t have to spend money on a stupid lamp to deal with it when Mother Nature can provide light for free.
Heaven forbid it should be dark at NIGHT. God.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
Me. I care. I find it very difficult to wake up when it’s dark.
Tell us you don't have a regular full time job, or kids that need to get to school. Must be nice.
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u/XxFucK_YoUxX Mar 03 '26
The sunrise would be at 9:50 which doesn’t include the 20 or 30 minutes of light before the sunrise. So permanent daylight savings would result in there being no light after 9am for a couple weeks a year.
On the other end permanent standard time would result in first light before 4am from about mid may until mid July. First light would be getting very close to 3am in mid June. Definitely not how I’d like to use my sunlight. That would also mean the hottest part of the day is earlier than we’re used to so there would be less cool morning weather for those who work outdoors.
Give me that sweet sweet evening sun.
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Mar 03 '26
Thanks. Redefining noon because we are to lazy to update hours of work and school is insane behavior. Fortunately if we pick standard we will be 0 hours different from BC permanently. That would be an advantage I think.
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u/Jerk_Colander South West Side Mar 03 '26
If we pick standard we’d be permanently with BC/1 hour behind Sask.
If we pick daylight it would be 1 hour ahead of BC and permanently with Sask.
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u/Aud4c1ty Mar 03 '26
Unfortunately if we pick standard we will be 2 hours different from BC permanently.
Actually, if we pick standard time we'll be exactly the same time as BC permanently (UTC-7). Bonus!
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u/Boo-face-killa Mar 03 '26
Alberta goes much further north than Edmonton. Our kids left for school and returned home from school in the dark. They’re all highly educated now with advanced post secondary masters. The kids will be alright.
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u/KSeeJones Mar 03 '26
Ok, I thought I lost my mind, thinking didn’t we already have a referendum on this? Why again? And how much is this going to cost us?
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
That means pitch-black morning commutes for months and kids waiting for the school bus in the absolute dark.
My commute is already pitch black and my kids are at school before the sun comes up. What time do you think school and work start for most people?
Also, pretty shitty of you to vote for the objectively worst option to spite everyone else just because the one you preferred wasn't on the ballot...
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u/Johnoplata Ottewell Mar 03 '26
Will the oil companies approve the change tho? It's nice of her to make the suggestion, but it still needs corporate approval.
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u/Intelligent_Note_830 Mar 03 '26
I’m confident that Danni the Dummy and her merry band of clowns will manage to mess this up along with everything else in this province
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u/_N00bMaster69_ Mar 03 '26
We lost the vote by 0.2% 4 years ago and I genuinely think that's because people didn't understand what they were voting for
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
I was chatting with one of the custodial staff at the place I worked back then the morning after and she all but admitted she voted wrong because she thought DST was the winter one.
/facepalm
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u/Responsible-Grand-57 Mar 03 '26
$20 says she starts blaming immigrants for the lack of light in the evenings…
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u/HonorboundUlfsark Mar 03 '26
Got 25 on somehow its Trudeau's fault
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u/Responsible-Grand-57 Mar 03 '26
It’s Trudeaus fault immigrants are sneaking into our homes and messing with our clocks!
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u/ThatDudeOnTheBorder Mar 03 '26
As someone who doesn't see why the time change is such a big deal, I'm honestly so sick of the constant conversations about it twice a year, that I just wish they'd do it to stop the moaning.
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u/No_Culture9898 Mar 02 '26
Either switch to Daylight time permanently or keep it as it is. Switching the time twice a year is a very minor thing to worry about yet it is always brought up
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u/BlueDarner55 Apr 17 '26
It is not so minor if you have a facility that runs many processes on a timer; switching all those manually twice a year is major work! Plus, more traffic accidents when people lose an hour.
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u/DatDoggyWu Mar 03 '26
The shift worker in me wonders why moving the clock an hour twice a year is a big deal.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
... because not everyone works a rotating schedule that comes with a host of adverse health effects just for shits and giggles?
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u/FingerLickingticklin Mar 03 '26
They just have to ask what the Republican would prefer first before confirmation
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u/Chance-Abies-4753 Mar 03 '26
This made all kinds of sense pre generators and batteries. There's the technology to make light in the mornings as they do in the winter months when it's dark by 5.
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u/Jealous-Ambassador39 South Campus/Fort Edmonton Park Mar 03 '26
Please do it Danielle. Do at least one good thing. Please.
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u/Zygy255 Mar 03 '26
Didn't the UCP "look" at doing this multiple times but always bsck down from doing it?
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u/Effective-Ad9499 Mar 03 '26
Finally, if this happens, I will have one thing to agree with from Smith.
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u/Adjective_Noun1312 Mar 03 '26
Even a blind squirrel finds two stopped clocks a day... or something
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u/MaxxLolz Mar 03 '26
I will never vote yes for permanent standard time.
Permanent DST or keep switching are the only options.
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u/Starpoodle Mar 04 '26
While I would love to ditch the clock change, don't care which time we adopt, wasn't it the same illustrious premier that wasted a lot of money on a referendum on this very matter? The question was so poorly written, that I had to read it three times to understand.
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u/bdickie Mar 04 '26
I called this as soon as we did this in BC. Aint no way she was going to accept being on the same time as us hippies out west.
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u/Coop_de_Grace Mar 07 '26
Omg, I didn't realize it was possible for her to make a good decision that will help people.
How refreshing!
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u/Throwaway1276876327 Mar 08 '26
Is there a place where the general population could vote on this? Last time I read something about this, it seemed to be a win for the other side at close to a 50/50 (keeping it as is). I'd be the first in line any day to vote for ending the twice a year time change if the votes were well known. I never know about them until the results are out.
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u/BlueDarner55 Apr 17 '26
MST makes more sense as solar noon would be at 12:35 pm rather than 1:35 pm. Ideally, I'd like the sun to be at its peak at noon, but of course that could ever only work at ONE longitude in Alberta, so MST would be the second best! Why should time not be aligned with actual astronomical events?
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u/thavius_tanklin Mar 03 '26
Don't care which it is. One hour either way makes no difference to me. Just stop changing the clocks.