As Canadians prepare to turn their clocks back an hour on November 2 at 2 a.m., frustration over the biannual time change is once again gaining momentum. Critics say it’s time to end the decades-old practice of daylight saving time, citing health, productivity, and safety concerns.
Liberal MP Marie-France Lalonde has reignited the debate by introducing Bill C-248, a private member’s bill calling for a national dialogue on the issue. The bill, tabled earlier this month, urges the federal government to convene a pan-Canadian conference with provinces, territories, and Indigenous leaders to decide on a unified, permanent time system.
“I would like to bring in experts, parents, and young people to talk about this practice,” Lalonde said. “We need evidence-based discussions to reach a consensus and stop changing our clocks twice a year.”
Lalonde emphasized that professionals in healthcare, farming, and shift-based industries face real challenges due to the time switch, which also disrupts business routines across the country.
According to Dr. Patricia Lakin-Thomas, a biology professor at York University, the disruption goes deeper than inconvenience — it affects the body’s internal clock. “When you move your social clock even by an hour, you’re putting yourself in a one-hour jet lag,” she explained. The body’s circadian rhythm, which regulates sleep, mood, and metabolism, is thrown off by the change, leading to fatigue, irritability, and even health risks such as higher rates of heart attacks, car accidents, and workplace injuries in the days following the switch.
Lakin-Thomas pointed to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showing that both year-round daylight saving and standard time are healthier alternatives than switching twice a year — but permanent standard time is best for public health. “The population would be a little bit healthier if we went to year-round standard time,” she said, citing links between the current system and increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
While Lalonde’s bill doesn’t specify whether Canada should adopt daylight or standard time, she stresses the need for national coordination. “It is not my place to choose one. This is a provincial and territorial decision,” she said.
Currently, most of Canada observes daylight saving time, with the exception of Saskatchewan and Yukon — the former made daylight time permanent in 1966, while the latter abandoned the switch in 2020 after public consultations. Ontario passed a law in 2020 to make daylight saving time permanent but made the change conditional on Quebec and New York adopting the same approach.
Meanwhile, public support for ending the clock changes continues to grow. Irene Shore of Brampton, Ontario, launched a petition six years ago that has since gathered nearly 90,000 signatures. What began as personal frustration, she said, turned into a broader realization: “It does matter where you land the clock. Ideally, it should be in standard time — that’s what our bodies crave.”
As the clock winds back once more, advocates like Lalonde and Shore hope this could finally be the last year Canadians have to reset their watches — and their sleep cycles.