Under new policy, BC isn’t ‘falling back’ with us on Nov. 1
By Aly McGee
On Nov. 1 the clocks will fall back in Washington to Pacific Standard Time, but not in B.C. This change to asynchronicity between the province and Washington state has been anxiously awaited since it was announced last March.
B.C. is adopting permanent daylight saving time, something the province has been waiting to do since 2019. B.C. passed the Interpretation Amendment Act in 2019, which allowed the change, but chose not to enforce it to “co-ordinate timing with neighbouring U.S. states in the same time zone,” according to the B.C. government website news.gov.bc.ca.
The website went on to explain that “recent actions from the U.S. have shifted how B.C. approaches decisions that merit alignment, including on time zones.”
On March 14, 2027, when Washington residents spring forward an hour, we will again be in sync with our Canadian neighbors until the following November. B.C. is not the only Canadian province adopting permanent daylight savings time. Saskatchewan and Yukon provinces already observe permanent daylight saving time and as of this November, B.C. will be joined by Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.
While the time difference between Blaine/Birch Bay and B.C. may be confusing, residents can prepare by checking their time settings in their phones preemptively. Phones may automatically toggle between timezones when near the border or when passing through the border if the phone is set to utilize location or nearby networks to determine time zone. Smart phone settings can be adjusted to use a predetermined timezone instead of using location or nearby network. This setting can be found in a phone’s settings menu.
Residents who need both time zones handy can also add a secondary time zone to their smart phone lock screen, which would enable them to see both the time in Washington and the time in B.C. simultaneously. This can be done through the clock app or homescreen of your phone depending on the type of phone.
The Northern Light reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection via email regarding whether or not this change will affect Nexus lane hours. CBP did not respond to the request for comment by press time.
