iN NUMBERS: Support for permanent daylight saving time drops in BC (it’s still pretty high)

It’s the dawn of a new era in B.C. since we aren’t changing the clocks twice a year anymore.

While support for permanent daylight saving time is high, a new Angus Reid survey found it’s lower than it was when the provincial government surveyed people back in 2019.

It’s hard to tell if the disparity is due to data collection methods, or if people just didn’t understand as much about what it would mean to stop changing the clocks until it happened.

Here are the numbers:

• 90: Per cent of British Columbians who responded to a survey in 2019 supported year-round daylight saving time.
• 49: Per cent of British Columbians surveyed said they would prefer staying on daylight savings all year and getting a later sunset.
• 37: Per cent of British Columbians surveyed said they would prefer staying on standard time and getting earlier sunrises.
• 15: Per cent of British Columbians surveyed said they would rather go back to switching between standard and daylight saving time.
• 53: Per cent of Canadians surveyed would prefer being on daylight saving time all year to get later sunsets.
• 54: Per cent of Canadians polled aged 55 or older prefer permanent daylight saving time, making it the most supportive age group of later sunsets.
• 58: Per cent of Liberal voters polled support permanent daylight saving time, that’s nine per cent higher than Conservative voters. It turns out even sunsets can be political.
• 56: Per cent of people polled with a household income more than $100,000 dollars a year prefer later sunsets, that’s four per cent higher than lower household income brackets.
• 0.4: Per cent. That was the vote difference in the referendum to end daylight saving time in Alberta in 2021, so it still changes its clocks.