Quebec government considers abolishing time change, announces consultations

The Quebec government says it wants to hear from Quebecers about the possibility of scrapping the twice-yearly time change. 

Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette says the time change has a number of negative health effects, especially on children and teenagers. 

The minister is announcing a public consultation that will last until Dec. 1, and says the government could then table legislation to abolish the practice, but he didn’t say whether the province would prefer to scrap daylight time or make it permanent. 

“Our sleep and our well-being is managed partly by a biological clock. And this biological clock is setting itself each morning with exposure to light. If you change the timing of exposure to light, this will perturb the whole organization of hormone secretion, cardiovascular functions, mood, especially during the fall season, where the mood is something a bit low in some person,” said Roger Godbout: Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal.

Godbout says the reasons why the time change was first implemented over 100 years ago, no longer stand.

“It’s becoming a problem because from what I understand, the reasons for changing twice a year, the time was a matter of energy, resources, management, mainly during wartime. This is not such an issue nowadays. We sense that the science of sleep has grown tremendously since the last 75 years. We now know that this is a bad thing to do.”

Godbout says that for some, time changes can take a person a few days to get used to it, while others are quicker.

Most Canadians are set to turn their clocks back an hour early on the morning of Nov. 3, and will set them forward again on March 9, 2025. 

Ontario passed legislation in 2020 to permanently stay on daylight time, but the bill was contingent on Quebec and New York state also making the move.

Jolin-Barrette says Quebec will make its own decision, and isn’t bound by the choices of its neighbours. 

“I think it affects the daily lives of Quebecers,” Jolin-Barrette said at a press conference. “I think it’s time to think about it and consult people. Before moving forward, we need to know where Quebecers live.”

While some Montrealers agree about abolishing the time change, others say they aren’t impacted by it.

“It would definitely be a change. Then again, the saving time is a change, right? So yeah, I would say it doesn’t really make a difference for me, but it would be nice to know what the choice is, you know?” asked one Montrealer.

Another saying, “It affects some people to go to work. You need to sleep more or you’re not going sleep more.”

Quebec’s online public consultation will last until December 1^st. And eventually, the provincial government could then table legislation to abolish the practice. The time changes happen twice yearly, and we’ll spring forward on March 9th, 2025.

“Everyone agrees that we should keep the standard time, what we call normal time, because at that point, the sun is at its highest point, the zenith, at noon,” said Godbout.

“So light exposure is equally distributed toward the morning and toward the afternoon and late afternoon. So morning people and evening people have the same amount of light. And this is pretty important.”