Edmonton Journal

MLA wants end to daylight time

- STUART THOMSON sxthomson@postmedia.com twitter.com/stuartxtho­mson

As a kindergart­en teacher and mother of a seven-month-old, Ashley Dermody knows that daylight time can throw a wrench into any carefully planned routine.

When she travels with her daughter, Ivy, she leaves her on Alberta time, rather than try to adapt to a new time zone. But when the clocks change, she doesn’t have a choice.

“It takes a long time to get (kids) on a schedule to begin with and then every hour counts,” Dermody said Monday.

Travelling is one thing, but Dermody can’t see the point of needlessly inflicting a time change on people. In the classroom, she said teachers know that the Monday after daylight time starts — when the clocks spring forward and kids lose an hour of sleep — is always trouble.

“I know a lot of teachers consider it not their most productive day,” she said.

Dermody was at the Cafe O’Play in southwest Edmonton as NDP MLA Thomas Dang announced further consultati­ons into his plan to scrap the time change.

Dang said he’s heard from hundreds of Albertans in support of the change since first proposing it, mostly from young families who are tired of having their routines thrown into disarray. Even egg farmers have cheered the proposal, because the time change “plays havoc with the natural rhythm of poultry.”

“We think this is something people are actually very passionate about,” Dang said.

Dang hopes the consultati­ons will guide what the replacemen­t is — whether to go with Central time, like Saskatchew­an, or stick with Mountain time — and to have a private member’s bill ready by the middle of March

Albertans who want to weigh in on the proposal can do so with an online poll at albertandp­caucus.ca or at a town hall meeting at the Federal Building in Edmonton on Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m.

I know a lot of teachers consider (the Monday after daylight time starts) not their most productive day.

 ?? ED KAISER ?? NDP MLA Thomas Dang announces more consulting is needed for the repeal of daylight time and introducin­g a year-round standard time in Alberta, in Edmonton on Monday.
ED KAISER NDP MLA Thomas Dang announces more consulting is needed for the repeal of daylight time and introducin­g a year-round standard time in Alberta, in Edmonton on Monday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada