Farmer’s Beef Leads to Call For Time Change
Prince George, B.C. – Is it time to move on and eliminate the annual time change?
Lara Beckett, Area C Director for the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, supports the idea.
Lara Beckett
She was the director responsible for bringing the issue to the board’s attention a couple of months ago and the board listened – a resolution was drafted which passed at last week’s North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) annual general meeting.
It will now be debated by local governments province-wide at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in Victoria this September.
“So I was approached by a local farmer in my area and he asked me if there was anything we could do to get rid of the time change,” says Beckett. “And at first I was a little overwhelmed and I said I’d take it to my board see what we can do.”
So what was the farmer’s beef?
“Well he was just fed up with it. He says his animals get disturbed by the artificial change in their routine. He felt it was just a disturbance to his animals and he wanted it gone.”
Beckett says road safety is another concern.
“As we’ve heard in the media the last number of years, there’s accident spikes around the time change. People are either losing sleep or sort of off on their sleep and accident spikes go up.”
Above all she says it’s just downright inconvenient.
“I think all of us get a little fed up with having to change the clocks. It’s an irritation and I’m sure everybody can relate to the fact that you look at the clock and you think ‘oh I’ve got an hour’ and you think god, I didn’t change them and all of a sudden you’re running for the door. That affects everybody.”
Beckett says it’s actually within the regional district’s legal right to eliminate the time change on its own, as seen in the North and Southeast corners of the province, but the Board opted instead for consensus building.
“If we changed, it would not make sense in the context of the province.”
Is she optimistic a majority of UBCM delegates will buy in?
“I would not be surprised if there was a certain level of support, whether it passes or not that’s another question. If it does go forward, there’s a much bigger conversation that needs to happen at the provincial level.”
Comments
Daylight Savings Time is a pain in the neck that just doesn’t have the advantages claimed for it. I have long advocated getting rid of it.
Like the old Native saying goes,
“Only the government would think that cutting a foot off the top of a blanket and sewing it on the bottom would give you a longer blanket.”
It affects everyone adversely. It should be done away with.
Saskatchewan had the guts to reject it, what’s wrong with B.C.?
Daylight saving time gives you more daylight during the evening for the summer months. While this was supposed to save energy that’s not necessarily true.
People who live further North can appreciate an extra hour of daylight in the evening and for that reason alone it probably is a good thing.
DST has been around for over 200 years so it has a history. Perhaps we need to have a hard look at this issue before we make any changes.
Making changes because someone’s cattle are a little upset with a routine change may not be a sufficient reason to make a change.
True, but the history brings up a lot of negatives, including, as the article mentions, an increase in auto accidents around time changes. And some jurisdictions have abolished it after trying it out. The US imposed Daylight Savings Time during the occupation of Japan. Just about the first thing the Japanese government did once the occupation ended was abolish Daylight Savings Time.
No,but changing it because it’s stupid is .. even this guy’s cows know that …
I think that we can all agree that an hour between 4 and 5 am is probably not used by many people. The hour at night between 8 and 9 pm when it is still daylight can be beneficial to a lot of people.
So do you want more daylight in the evening during the summer, or do you want it to get dark earlier.
The farmer could adjust his hours to ensure that his cattle get fed and watered at the same time.
To me is doesn’t matter because I can adjust, however it will have some impact on kids, soccer, golf, and other evening daylight activities.
Palopu makes a good point. As for accidents I question if it is the time change. Most people have a set routine during the week, come the weekend what routine is surely not the same as during the week. Now back to Monday,readjusting to the weekly routine making Mondays especially tough.
Has anyone studied a separation between time change and weekly routine change? Maybe the increase in accidents after the time change is actually a change in routine.
We’re far enough north that even without the time change, we still get plenty of evening light in the summer. At the end of June, the sun would still set at 8:45, leaving some daylight for a good deal of time after that. If you have kids in sports, generally they aren’t playing till 10:00 most nights anyway, so that argument doesn’t hold up.
In the winter, it would stay light out later, which, if you’re at all affected by seasonal mood changes, can matter a great deal. As well, even on the shortest day of the year, many people would still have a little bit of daylight after work, which can really help, especially when you go to work in the dark.
The time change is an outdated practise that has outlived its usefulness. It now causes more problems than it solves.
(If the farmer has to adjust his hours just so he feeds his cattle at the same time, that also affects every other area of his business, which has to adjust for the time change. Which takes priority?)
Our dog couldn’t agree with this farmer more, and yes, people get screwed up with it,
that’s well documented in tons of studies. That’s one darn smart farmer!
Dawson Creek and area as well as the Kootenay do not change..so let’s stop this clock nonsense.
Take the issue up with Benjamin Franklin he was one of the original advocates of DST.
To make it fair for everyone just split the difference..take off a half an hour this fall and lets just stay there year around.
ok..I was typing what I was thinking… that should read…take off a half hour this fall and lets stay there year around..
Even the family dog gets frustrated waiting for the kids to come home from school.
Goofy reason, cows and other animals don’t have clocks or watches to go by. Don’t like DST then don’t observe it, suppliers usually close at 4 or 5 pm so DST does not make you miss closing time and the internet is 24/7. If you have a farm keep the routine the same, who cares what time it is off the farm, the cows don’t. Go to bed at 8 instead of 9, problem solved. Half the year you get up at 5 the other half at 6, feed the cows the same time every day, half the year your watch will be an hour different. Better yet keep a clock in the barn like a swimmers clock, feeding time is the same time every day regardless what your timepiece says. By a dollar store wall clock, pull the numbers off it and sharpie in morning and evening feedings, yay, no more disturbed cows…
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