It’s time for Quebec to ditch time change
We need to change with the times by not changing our time
As another time change looms over us, it’s time to follow Western Canada’s example and stay in one time zone year-round.
Over the past year, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories have opted to ditch the biannual clock change and adopt year-round daylight saving time instead, joining Saskatchewan and the Yukon.
Abolishing the time change is extremely popular nationwide, with only 14 per cent of Canadians supporting its continuation.
So why doesn't Quebec follow suit?
The biannual time change was adopted nationwide during the First World War to conserve energy. The idea was that if it was still light after working hours, people would use less artificial lighting, saving energy for the war effort. The practice was commonplace in Canada until Saskatchewan opted out in 1977, followed by the Yukon in 2020 and the rest of Western Canada in 2026.
But for many, the time change can be detrimental to mental health. A study found suicide and drug overdose-related deaths rose an average of six per cent during spring ahead.
Generally, farmers have also been negatively affected by the time change, despite a common myth that it was adopted for their benefit. At the very least, it’s an annoyance, and for some, a serious logistical nightmare. For farmers hiring people for shift work, it's detrimental to have people working before the sun rises, as a lot of farm work can't be done until then.
Time zones already create significant barriers for trade, and time change only complicates it further. It can make planning during the time change season unnecessarily difficult. For example, in October, arranging a meeting between Montreal, London, England and Sydney, Australia, would require you to account for three time changes across the span of one month.
Abolishing the time change is a popular idea in Eastern Canada. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) even promised that a re-elected CAQ government would abolish the biannual time change (although we couldn’t be further from a re-elected CAQ).
A public consultation carried out by the Quebec government in 2024 found that 91 per cent of Quebecers want to ditch the biannual time change, with 72 per cent preferring permanent daylight saving time, the same as Western Canada.
Like many facets of Canadian politics, the main caveat is the United States.
Both Quebec and Ontario have been open to getting rid of the time change, with Ontario even passing legislation to abolish it, on the condition that Quebec and New York do the same.
British Columbia also waited for the U.S. until recently. B.C. used to say it would act only if neighbouring territories and states did first, but this year it went ahead anyway without the rest of the American West Coast.
One of the main reasons B.C. changed its mind was the Canada-U.S. trade war and the general trend among Canadian provinces to move away from the U.S., as a way to show that U.S. trade is no longer as central a factor when it comes to Canadian policy.
It's clearly time for Eastern Canada to abolish the time change. It's not only overwhelmingly popular, but it's also another way Canada can show it’s not dictated by the U.S.'s archaic practices.
This article originally appeared in Volume 47, Issue 4, published October 27, 2026.
