Permanent Time as an Alternative to Counter the Detrimental Effects of DST on Canadian Society

Abstract

Daylight saving time (DST) is a practice that shifts the perceived time one hour forward in the spring and one hour behind in the fall, effectively granting more sunlight in the evenings of springs and summers. In recent years, an increasing number of people have been dissatisfied with this method of keeping the time for a variety of reasons. To begin with, DST no longer saves energy because artificial illumination no longer contributes to the majority of energy expenditure in the current Canadian society. Secondly, DST affects many different forms of economy, varying from farming and manufacturing to family owned businesses. DST also damages the well-being of Canadians by increasing the risks of health problems from every time change. From an online survey study to investigate the public opinion on the timekeeping ways, most participants have shown that they do not want the current DST arrangement; Around three-quarters indicated that they prefer one of the permanent time schemes, one that they do not need to change clocks twice a year. The method to keep time is one that affects everyone, and may have major impacts on the socioeconomic well-being of a society. Therefore, it is imperative that the significance of the current DST scheme on society be clarified and the people’s opinions be heard in subsequent survey studies that include more participants.