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While people in the National Capital Region will enjoy an extra hour of sleep on Sunday, it could be the last time Gatineau residents wind back their clocks, according to Quebec’s new premier.
On Wednesday, the Parti Québécois (PQ) announced its plan to table a bill in the coming months that would scrap the time changes across the province, citing the negative impact on people’s health.
“To all the parents who will be dealing with their children’s reactions this time change in the several weeks to come: this is probably the last year we’ll be imposing such unnecessary constraints on ourselves,” Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wrote in French in a social media post.
Ontario’s government hasn’t announced a similar provincewide plan to abolish time changes, meaning clocks in Ottawa and Gatineau could be one hour apart during daylight savings if the PQ’s bill passes.
‘Everything would get a lot more complicated’
According to Statistics Canada’s most recent data from the 2021 census, more than one-quarter of Gatineau residents cross a bridge into Ontario for their jobs. Many eastern Ontario residents work in federal office buildings in Gatineau.
Ottawa Board of Trade vice-president Erin Benjamin said it’s too soon to tell how abolishing time change could impact all that cross-border activity, but there will inevitably be consequences.
“There’s no question that everything would get a lot more complicated,” she said. “From personal schedules to school, transit, shopping, or hopping across the river for dinner with friends, it extends to all of our activities.”
The debate over daylight savings has swept across Canada, with British Columbia, Manitoba and regions of northwestern Ontario now refusing to turn their clocks back and forward.
The idea of Ottawa and Gatineau being in different time zones is ticking off some Ottawa public servants like Jennifer Wallace, who interacts daily with colleagues in Gatineau.
“Having that one-hour time difference would be very dysfunctional,” she said.
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which oversees the federal public service, told CBC in a statement that it’s aware of potential time changes in “certain jurisdictions.”
“As no legislation has been introduced and no changes have been implemented, it would be premature to speculate on potential impacts or any measures that may be required,” it said.
With no current timeline for tabling the bill, Quebec’s premier says the change could take effect next year after consulting with experts.
Ottawa-Vanier MPP Lucille Collard says one way Ontario could mitigate the chaos is by following Quebec’s lead.
“[It] would create a lot of inconvenience if we were not aligned,” Collard said.