Ontario to move northwestern region to permanent daylight time
The province will align the region with Manitoba, which is also ending seasonal time changes.
TORONTO — Ontario will move parts of its northwest to permanent daylight time on Nov. 1 to align with neighbouring Manitoba.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford told The Canadian Press the province intends to make a regulatory change to the Time Act for regions west of the 90th meridian.
Rickford said there is overwhelming consensus among municipalities, First Nations and businesses to make the time change permanent.
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“What ended up coming back was overwhelmingly unanimous, 90 to 94 per cent from every survey,” he said.
The move follows an announcement last month by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew that his province would stop twice-annual clock changes and stay on daylight time year-round in the central time zone.
That decision leaves Manitoba one hour ahead of the other Prairie provinces rather than aligned with them.
Northwest in a 'spot'
“That put northwestern Ontario, who sits in the central standard time zone, in a bit of a spot, to say the least,” Rickford said.
He said the province had three options for the region.
One was for the northwestern region to shift to Eastern time to align with the rest of Ontario.
The second was to continue with seasonal time changes, but then they’d be out of step with the rest of Ontario and Manitoba.
“The other option… we took by unanimous consensus, was to not change our clocks and go to what I’m calling Wab Kinew time,” Rickford said.
Much of the province’s northwest jumped into action after Kinew’s announcement to figure out a way forward.
Rickford said the province reached out to municipalities, businesses and First Nations to get their thoughts.
Collaborative effort
New Democrat Sol Mamakwa, who represents the riding of Kiiwetinoong that is home to the majority of Ontario’s remote, fly-in First Nations, also helped figure out a way forward.
“After having brought the voices of our communities across the northwest to the table, we are happy the advocacy to observe daylight savings will be implemented permanently,” Mamakwa said in a statement.
“We are proud of our collaborative efforts to deliver what works for the North. We thank everyone who reached out and shared their thoughts on this important decision.”
British Columbia said in March that it was moving to permanent Pacific daylight time.
Alberta also switched to permanent daylight time this year in what it calls Alberta time, which means it now has the same time as Saskatchewan year round.
Nosy Mag reported in October that the decisions by Alberta, B.C. and Manitoba to stay on daylight time have led to later start times for some NHL games.
The regulatory change for northwestern Ontario is set to take effect on Nov. 1.
With files from The Canadian Press, CityNews and Global News