Majority of survey respondents vote to end seasonal time change in N.W.T.

Jan 23, 2023 | 2:39 PM

YELLOWKNIFE — The Northwest Territories is considering whether to end seasonal time changes after a survey suggested there’s interest in the move.

More than 86 per cent of 3,545 survey respondents say they are in favour of adopting a permanent time standard in the territory. 

Of those, more than half said they preferred mountain daylight time. 

That would mean the territory would not turn its clocks back an hour to mountain standard time on the first Sunday in November. 

The territory says the time-change survey has had the greatest number of people weighing in, followed by a 2017 survey on cannabis legalization that garnered roughly 1,100 responses. 

The Northwest Territories government says the results will help inform the executive council’s decision, but nothing would happen immediately if it decided to move to a permanent time. 

Yukon, Saskatchewan and parts of Nunavut and Quebec have ended seasonal time changes.

Voters in Alberta rejected a move to a permanent time standard in a 2021 referendum. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2023. 

The Canadian Press