ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Daylight saving time begins tomorrow, which means - well, you know the drill - our clocks spring ahead, we lose an hour of sleep. It's a necessary, if annoying, ritual we do every year so we can have a little more daylight in our evenings.
But in the Canadian province of British Columbia, this Sunday will be the last time they're adjusting their clocks. And that's because they're about to begin a new era of permanent daylight saving time. To explain why, we're joined by the premier of British Columbia, David Eby. Thanks for coming on the program.
DAVID EBY: Thanks for having me, Adrian.
MA: So to start us off, what prompted this change?
EBY: Well, the discussion has been taking place in British Columbia for a while. We changed our law about six years ago, enabling the province to take this move to permanent daylight savings times. More than 90% of British Columbians supported this change, and the reason why is obvious. You know, if you have kids - changing the clock, it's hard to wake them up. It's a tougher day. If you have pets, they don't understand the change.
But we were holding off on making this change until the Western states also lined up. It seemed like they were moving in that direction, but it really stalled out, so we waited and we waited and finally decided to go ahead on our own.
MA: Can you say more about that? You said you were waiting for the Western states, so I'm guessing we're talking about Washington, Oregon, California, and they have not made the change to permanent daylight saving time. So what made you decide, we just have to go ahead and do it?
EBY: Well, a number of the states had passed local laws that allowed the states to make the change, but my understanding is that Congress has to sign off on their ability to stay on permanent daylight savings time. And so there was some momentum, and we really thought it was going to happen.
These are important trade relationships that we have up and down the West Coast, interpersonal relationships, tourism relationships. We try to stay in line on things where we can. But ultimately, we had to make a decision about what was best for British Columbians. We see a lot of accidents. We see an increase in heart attacks. We see all of the negative impacts that come with the time change when people are driving around groggy each time, twice a year.
And it's totally unnecessary, and people don't want to do it, so we had to move on our own. And we're really hopeful, actually, that Congress provides that consent to the Western states.
MA: You said that this law in British Columbia was passed several years ago, but it's only being implemented now. Is that because you are waiting for other states to hopefully get on board?
EBY: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, America - and certainly through policy articulated through the White House - is thinking more about American interests first. And that has forced a real conversation in Canada around how we look after ourselves and stand on our own two feet.
In British Columbia, this was one of those decisions where people are like, you know, we've waited for the Americans for a long time, and we need to do what's right for us. So that ultimately is where things landed. We did our best to wait for you guys. But ultimately, we had to move ahead.
MA: You know, the survey you mentioned with 93% support seems almost unanimous, but there are still some people, I'm guessing, who are not wild about the shift to permanent daylight saving. I mean, it does mean that people would wake up to darker winter mornings. So did this come up at all during the deliberations on this issue?
EBY: Yeah, absolutely. You know, our airline authority, the regulator of airports, was concerned about sort of matching up timelines. Our business community - anxious about a competitive advantage that we have of being on the same time zone as Western states. Some of the largest economies that we trade with are Western states, including California. These are important considerations.
And also, yes, there are people who get up early and would like to see that early morning sun and would prefer that we not change this and don't feel too badly about the time change. I mean, any issue in politics is going to have people on both sides. But this is as close to consensus as you get on an issue in politics, I'll say.
And there are, I should note, some sleep experts that would have preferred us to move not to permanent daylight savings time, but permanent to the other time, where the extra hour is in the morning going forward. But in British Columbia, we tend to wake up in the dark, take our kids to school in the dark in the winter. We're on the very western edge of the time zone, and so we have dark mornings anyway. People really want that hour at the end of the day.
MA: Let me ask you this, though - what if the other western states in the United States that you've been waiting on just decide to go the other way and have permanent standard time?
EBY: (Laughter) I mean, that's certainly a risk. I'll say bluntly, the risk that we've seen hasn't been that there's an enthusiastic appetite for change in the Congress on this, and the risk that we've seen is just that change is never going to happen.
MA: I have to ask, are you a morning person?
EBY: Well, you know, I never used to be, and then I had kids, and I think they have permanently changed me. I - almost every morning, I'm up at 6 or earlier with one of our three kids. And they're a lot of fun, but they have permanently altered my sleep patterns.
MA: Well, hopefully this change brings some more predictability for your region. David Eby is the premier of British Columbia. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us.
EBY: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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