Millions of Canadians will notice their clocks turn back by one hour on Nov. 3, marking the end of daylight saving time for this year.
Dawn will come earlier in the morning, and darkness will loom sooner in the afternoon when standard time returns. Most provinces and territories observe the shift, which occurs yearly on the first Sunday of November, with the exception of Saskatchewan and Yukon, which follow standard time year-round.
Canadians have, perhaps begrudgingly, participated in sunshine-oriented time changes since 1918. The federal government introduced daylight saving time to increase production during the First World War, shifting an hour of sunlight from before breakfast to after dinner. Germany and Britain had already passed similar legislation.
The federally-regulated time change ended with the First World War but resumed during the second, when Canada returned to a year-round daylight saving time, along with the United States. Most countries changed their clocks during this period. Since then, governments at the provincial and municipal levels have regulated daylight time in their respective time zones.
The schedule we know today is only 17-years-old. In March 2007, then-U.S. President George W. Bush amended the existing daylight saving time period to run from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November, introducing a weeks-long extension to the previous timeframe. The intention was to conserve energy, reducing the amount of time people would need to light their homes. Canada followed suit.
How much longer Canada should stay on that schedule is up for debate – The Canadian Sleep Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have called for an end to daylight saving time.
In November 2020, Ontario passed the Time Amendment Act, which sets the stage to make daylight saving time the year-round norm. Ontario’s attorney general has said the government will only implement it if Quebec and the state of New York are on board.
Earlier this week, Quebec launched a public consultation on the time change, which could lead to legislation.
Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said on Tuesday that changing the clocks has “important impacts on the lives of Quebecers,” and can affect people’s ability to concentrate and make them more irritable.
In March, nearly 90,000 people signed a petition to end daylight saving time permanently in Canada.