Montreal Gazette

WE SHOULD EMBRACE THE LIGHT, STAY ON DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

- JOSH FREED Joshfreed4­9@gmail.com

As I write, night is falling fast, which is utterly depressing because it’s only 3:45 p.m. — the middle of my day.

We are marooned in the Great Darkness: the period from November to February when days are so short you can almost see the moon at noon. By the time you finish a late lunch, it’s twilight.

Welcome to daylight-craving time, when the sun coldly turns its back on us Canadians, here in the chilly attic of North America.

This time of year I’d kill for an extra hour of afternoon light — specifical­ly the hour we voluntaril­y gave up in November, when we turned our clocks back to Standard Time and made the world even darker.

Maybe it’s “standard” for a mole or a troll — but not for me. I feel like a sunflower locked in the cellar, a child of light trapped in the night.

I have lots of company. In a lifetime of setting back our clocks each fall, I never recall anyone saying: “Oh boy! Tonight we turn back the time! From now on it’ll get dark an hour earlier! Ya-a-y!”

I’ve heard only groans, curses and the usual confusion that comes from tampering with time.

“OK — we put the clocks ahead, so it’s darker earlier tonight and we lose an hour of sleep ... No … Lemme see ... it gets light earlier in the morning, so we … hmmm ...

“Anyway, we gotta change the clocks.”

Then we go through a week where everyone has jet lag, without getting to travel. We have more car accidents, heart attacks and arguments — like we do again when we spring forward a few months later.

No wonder by late January we are depressed from SAD and BLAH and other diseases caused by lack of light. Why do we abandon Daylight Saving Time (DST) when we need it most — and switch to Daylight Wasting Time?

Why use up our precious supply of winter light in early morning, when most people are groggily slurping cereal, or stewing in traffic? Shouldn’t we save some light for later, when we escape the office — to jog, walk, shop and get some vitamin D?

Saskatchew­an stopped putting the clocks back decades ago and stays permanentl­y on sunnier hours. They get an hour more afternoon winter light than nextdoor Manitoba, or Alberta — and polls show they love it.

So why do we Quebecers fiddle with our clock? Many people say it’s so kids won’t have to walk to school in the dark. But honestly — do any kids walk to school anymore?

They get driven in cars or buses, then spend their daylight hours in class — and get released just in time to play in the dark.

Others blame the time change on farmers, who supposedly like to work and milk their cows in morning light. Is this truth or myth? To find out I phoned some farmers.

Pete, who farms in the Townships said they don’t need more light in the morning: “This is the season when crops are done and vegetable farmers put up their feet.

“Chickens don’t run around the yard like 40 years ago. They’re in automatica­lly lit spaces. Cows don’t wear watches — they just want to be milked.”

Added Huntingdon farmer, Jamie Quinn: “I’d love Daylight Saving Time all year round — so you don’t need a flashlight to take a walk in the afternoon.

“I hate the darkness and changing the damn clock! Don’t pin this one on farmers — we love the light, too.”

Quinn told me of two heroic Daylight “resistance fighters” called the Higgins brothers: “oldschool” Huntingdon farmers who refused to change their clocks in fall when everyone else did.

“They just stayed on Daylight Saving all year, in their own time zone,” Quinn said. “When you visited their farm you had to change your watch.”

Sadly, they died several years ago and their separate Higgins Time Zone died with them.

But let’s be inspired by them — and join the daylight lobby. Many countries have ditched the switch and stay on permanent Daylight Saving Time — from Argentina, Belarus and Israel to Chile, Iceland and Kyrgyzstan.

If Kyrgyzstan can, why can’t Canada? Maybe Trudeau could add it to the NAFTA negotiatio­ns — using a Trump-friendly slogan like “Make The Day Great Again!”

If Canada won’t, let’s go it alone. If anyone needs to lighten up in winter it’s Montreal, which gets over an hour less light than Southern U.S. cities.

If we’re as distinct as we think, why not have our own independen­t Quebec time zone — separate but better from other provinces around us? Let’s create an Alt-Night movement, link up with Saskatchew­an — and seize the daylight.

Trolls of Quebec unite! Let’s declare permanent Daylight Saving Time throughout the province. But to salute Huntingdon’s two pioneers, let’s not call it DST — but HBST.

Higgins Brothers Saving Time! — in honour of those who first saw the light.

 ?? JOHN MAHONE ?? Montrealer­s are marooned in the Great Darkness: the period from November to February when days are so short you can almost see the moon at noon, Josh Freed writes
JOHN MAHONE Montrealer­s are marooned in the Great Darkness: the period from November to February when days are so short you can almost see the moon at noon, Josh Freed writes
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