People in northeast B.C. say rest of province should embrace living in a single time zone year-round | CBC News
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Set it and forget it.
That’s the message people living in Fort St. John have for the rest of the province as the majority of British Columbians prepare for their final time change this weekend with the creation of the “Pacific time” time zone.
The change, which will see the bulk of B.C. on year-round daylight time with no more “springing forward” or “falling back”, means the province will also be permanently aligned with the Peace region of northeastern B.C.
It has observed its own time zone since the 1970s when residents voted to move onto permanent Mountain Standard Time — meaning their clocks lined up with B.C. during the summer months and Alberta in the winter ones.
“You’ll love it,” said Oliver Hachmeister, a Fort St. John resident who grew up without ever having to change his clock.
The only hassle, he said, was trying to remember whether he was on the same time zone as the rest of B.C. or not, so he looked forward to the change.
Drew Torrie said it will make it easier for her to communicate with friends in other parts of B.C.
“We won’t have to do the math,” she said. She also said she’s rarely heard anything but complaints from people who do have to change their clocks.
Larry Evans, a former Fort St. John city councillor and local historian, said the change will also solve a long-standing issue for the Peace region dating back to the 1970s.
He said in 1974, a vote was held in the region asking people how they would like to set their clocks, with four options: align with B.C., align with Alberta, permanent Mountain Standard Time with no time changes, and permanent Pacific Standard Time, with no changes.
While most people, he said, wanted to align with either B.C. or Alberta, “it was so convoluted, nobody knew what they were voting for.”
Over the decades people in the area got used to the lack of change. The Fort Nelson region did away with time changes in 2014, and Evans says he’s pleased to see the rest of the province coming on board in just a few days.
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