Because of the pandemic, the Government of Alberta decided to postpone a decision on whether to move to permanent daylight savings time.
I expect this conversation will begin again once the pandemic becomes less front of mind.
I encourage all Albertans to take a quick look outside between 7.30 and 8.00 any morning, and realize that if we had permanent daylight savings time, this is how dark it would be from 8:30 – 9:00 am for December and January mornings.
The sun currently rises in Edmonton at about 8:45 am; if we were on permanent daylight savings time, that would become 9:45 am.
Because Alberta is in the western part of the Mountain time zone, the impact of permanent daylight savings time in our province is not the same as in Saskatchewan.
If you ask me, having a switch is more preferable, as is standard time, than having permanent daylight savings time.
A poll of a small number of Albertans last year suggested permanent daylight savings time was favoured by the majority. If you disagree, I encourage you to let your MLA in Red Deer/central Alberta know.
Barry Litun, Edmonton