The battle over time change may soon take over Manitoba.
The Opposition NDP is launching a website and performing public consultations on whether the province should stop changing the clocks in the spring and fall, and if so, what time should be permanent.
The NDP say that there are a lot of problems associated with the time change that have been studied, such as negative sleep impacts.
“There’s significant changes in terms of people’s health,” said NDP member Adrien Sala. “It’s important that we do understand where Manitobans are at on this issue.”
The fight over time change is nothing new. As recently as last year, former MLA Cliff Graydon introduced a private member’s bill to adopt standard time. The bill received minimal support and no one in the governing PC caucus has shown an interest in adopting the permanent change.
Other provinces have also gone to battle over time change, including B.C. where the government put forward legislation to adopt daylight time year-round. B.C. Premier John Horgan is hoping to see Washington, Oregon, and California willing to go along with the change.
Alberta has also let residents weigh in on the issue by launching an online survey last month.
In the U.S, Florida and other states have passed bills to adopt permanent daylight time, but the changes require federal approval.
In 2014, MPI released numbers saying that collisions in the province were 20 percent higher on the first Monday of the spring clock change, compared to all other Mondays that year.
The Manitoba Liberal Party has proposed making the time change a referendum question in the next provincial election in 2023.
