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Overview
Government is conducting targeted engagement with industries and key stakeholders in Alberta to:
- understand the impacts a permanent time zone would have on their operations, and
- understand stakeholder preferences for which time zone Alberta should permanently switch to, between Mountain Standard Time (Alberta’s winter hours, from November to March) or Mountain Daylight Time (Alberta’s summer hours, from March to November)
Currently, Albertans advance their clocks during the spring in observance of a practice known as Daylight Saving Time (DST). In the fall, clocks are reset to standard time.
Get informed
Many governments across North America and Europe are considering, or moving toward, staying on a fixed time zone.
- Saskatchewan observes a permanent Central Standard Time year-round (CST; UTC-6:00).
- British Columbia moved to a permanent Daylight Saving Time year-round in the Pacific Time Zone (PT; UTC-7:00).
- Yukon also follows the Mountain Standard Time zone (UTC-7:00) year-round (which is the same as B.C. moving forward).
If Alberta adopted permanent MDT, the province would share a common time-zone with Saskatchewan (CST).
Similarly, if Alberta adopted permanent MST the province would share a permanent time-zone with British Columbia (PT).
Previous engagements
In 2019, government engaged Albertans on stopping the biannual clock and instead adopting year-round observance of Daylight Saving Time.
- Of 141, 280 responses, 91% were in favour of moving permanently to Daylight Saving Time.
In 2021, government held a referendum asking voters if they wanted to eliminate the need to change our clocks twice a year.
- Of the 1,068,656 valid ballots, 50.2% voted “No”, and to continue changing clocks twice a year.
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholders were called and/or emailed with the scope of discussion and scheduled for a short virtual meeting.
Stakeholders were informed of the time zones that both British Columbia and Saskatchewan follow and their preferences as to which time zone Alberta should permanently switch to will be collected.
Government also sought stakeholder perspectives as to the transition period needed for ministries and organizations to change their systems and operations to support a permanent time zone change.
Outcomes
Engagement feedback will inform potential impacts of a permanent time zone switch to industry and government services.