The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Saskatchewan government is reviewing its policy on Daylight Saving Time now that the debate over the province's non-participation in the system has been ignited once more. CBC reported yesterday that Saskatchewan auto dealers have begun a petition campaign to measure the level of interest in having the province become the last in Canada to adopt the daylight time system. Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), which represents 461 towns and cities, has come out in favour of the "spring ahead, fall back" rule for clocks. Len Taylor, the minister responsible for municipalities, told CBC that officials are now reviewing the government's options, including a possible two-year trial period and a provincial referendum. Taylor's department is expected to make a recommendation to the province on the matter within two weeks. This announcement comes a year after Premier Lorne Calvert rejected a possible referendum to decide the matter once and for all. "My decision is based on the fact that, in Saskatchewan, we do not need a divisive issue," he told reporters. Daylight Savings Time will end this year at 2 a.m. on Oct. 31, at which time most Canadians will turn their clocks back one hour. Residents of Creighton and Denare Beach do not follow the rest of their province given their proximity to Manitoba. Several countries first adopted Daylight Saving Time during World War I, the rationale being that an extra hour of daylight would reduce fuel consumption. American statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin is credited with dreaming up the concept in his 1784 essay, An Economical Project.
