The Strathcona Standard

After decades of trying to get rid of the twice-yearly time change in BC, the Eby government has decided to make it happen.

Today the province announced that March 8, 2026 will be the last time British Columbia residents have to adjust their clocks. Multiple governments have talked about making the change since 2005, but haven’t gone through with it because it would leave BC out of sync with everyone else in the Pacific Time Zone.

The Eby government says it’s making the change now because it believes BC no longer needs to be co-ordinated with its trading partners in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, or California.

“Recent actions from the U.S. have shifted how B.C. approaches decisions that merit alignment, including on time zones,” says the provincial news release. “Making this change now reflects the current preferences and needs of British Columbians, and helps ensure the province is well-positioned to thrive, even when circumstances across the border evolve.”

In 2005, the USA passed the Energy Policy Act to extend Daylight Savings Time by a month, to come into force in 2007. To prepare, in 2006 the BC government held consultations about what to do about the time change, with most respondents supporting the extension. Since then, successive BC governments have regularly raised the possibility of making Daylight Savings Time, the “spring forward” change, permanent.

In 2019, the province held extensive public consultations about the possibility. More than 223,000 people responded, and more than 93% of them supported the idea.

In 2019 the states of Washington, Oregon, and California passed legislation to make Daylight Savings Time permanent, but cannot enact the change without overturning the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and requires federal approval to make changes.

Several attempts have been made to modify the federal law by passing the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Savings Time permanent nationally across the USA. However, the legislation is opposed by health and medical groups, including the American Medical Association, who say standard time should be made permanent, not Daylight Savings Time.

The Sunshine Protection Act remains in legislative limbo, although it is supported by lawmakers from both Republican and Democrat parties, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and also Patty Murray, senior senator for Washington State and a Democrat.