Daylight Savings Time Extended in Canada

For the past 20 years, daylight savings time (DST) in North America has come and gone uniformly and most Canadians have reset their clocks on the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. Next month, however, this practice will change in Canada in order to give consistency with a change in US practice. In August 2005, the US government passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and, in addition to other measures, the statute lengthened the period within which DST will be in effect by four weeks. In 2007, DST will start on March 11. Most provinces in Canada have decided to adopt the new US DST changes in order to avoid business and travel disruptions within North America. (As in the past, Saskatchewan will remain on Standard Time throughout the year). However, not all countries have followed the US lead as Canada has. Since 2002, the European Union has used the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October as start and end dates for European Summer Time. No changes to this system are expected. As explained on the National Research Council of Canada web site, "For 2007, the time difference between Europe and North America will change for a period of 3 weeks instead of 1 week (2 weeks in March and 1 week in November) and will be in the opposite sense to past experience." As to whether this change is likely to save energy, see a 41-page report entitled "Does Extending Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Experience From an Australian Experiment" which concludes that "current plans to extend DST will fail to conserve energy": http://www.ucei.berkeley.edu/PDF/csemwp163.pdf. For a copy of the US Energy Policy Act of 2005, visit: http://www.doi.gov/iepa/EnergyPolicyActof2005.pdf For more information, see the National Research Council web site at: http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/daylight_saving_e.html For additional background information on the US changes to DST, see an earlier issue of E-TIPS®, "Daylight Saving Time Extended in the US – A Mini-Replay of Y2K?" at: http://tinyurl.com/23829g Summary by: Sue Diaz