The NDP have launched an online survey to collect feedback from Albertans over the future of Daylight Saving Time in the province.
Weeks after Edmonton-South West MLA Thomas Dang went public with plans to table a Private Member’s Bill to drop Daylight Saving Time in Alberta, the NDP sought feedback from Albertans on the time change.
Back in December, Dang told CTV News he plans to table a bill when the spring session starts which would repeal the Daylight Saving Time Act.
At the time, he said every time Albertans change their clocks, he sees a flood of emails from constituents complaining about it.
“So I started digging more and I started doing research and studying the effects of ‘why do we do it’, and obviously it came from war time efforts, and some of those reasons just don’t hold weight anymore,” Dang said.
On Monday, CTV News spoke to dairy farmer Graham Jespersen, who said the time change impacts the 170 cows he owns. Twice a year, they have to get used to new feeding times.
“The cows are up and waiting to get fed, if you come in here 45 minutes earlier, they won’t be,” Jespersen said.
To deal with the issue, Jespersen spends days easing the animals into the change.
“So they’re not just missing out on an hour of food every day,” Jespersen said.
The time change also impacts how much milk they produce.
“When we lose an hour, we lost an hour of income,” Jespersen said.
“When we gain an hour, we get an extra hour of income, so it evens out over the year, but one month’s a little extra bonus and another month is a decrease.”
Jespersen he and his family could do without Daylight Saving Time.
“I have kids too and you know it affects them just like it affects the cows,” Jespersen said.
As for the potential change, Dang said Monday there are options.
“There are a couple of different options, we can go with Saskatchewan and stay with [Central Standard Time] all the time, or we can stay at [Mountain Standard Time] all the time, so we do want to hear from Albertans about what their thoughts are,” Dang said.
In Canada, Saskatchewan, parts of British Columbia, Nunavut and Quebec don’t change clocks for Daylight Saving Time.
In addition to the survey, a town hall will take place at the Federal Building on Friday.
With files from Shanelle Kaul