B.C. clocks won't fall back Nov. 1 as province stays on permanent Pacific Time

Clocks in British Columbia will not go back on Nov. 1, even as Ontario and Quebec fall back, and they will not spring forward next year either.

The province is staying on what Daily Hive describes as a newly established time zone, PCT, short for Pacific Time. According to Daily Hive, PCT is the new permanent time unless a future government reverses it. The outlet reports that Premier David Eby made the change official earlier this year, and that the late premier John Horgan first proposed the idea. The B.C. Ministry of Citizens' Services shared more information about PCT in September.

For people who cross the border, the practical effect is immediate. B.C. did not wait for the United States to align before making the change, so a trip to Bellingham will mean going an hour backwards.

Inside the province, Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, which already keep Mountain Standard Time year-round, will line up with the rest of B.C.

Other provinces are going their own ways. Alberta and Manitoba will also stick to permanent daylight saving time, with Alberta using a different time zone code, ABT. Yukon will stay aligned with B.C. Ontario and Quebec will keep falling back, which cuts the gap between B.C. and those provinces to two hours instead of three.

That shift reaches workplaces. Daily Hive reports that hours for B.C.-based Canada Revenue Agency call centre workers will change, because Eastern Canada falls back and B.C. does not. Staff who used to finish at 5 p.m. will now work until 6 p.m.

B.C. voters have weighed in on daylight time before. More than 50 per cent voted in favour of introducing it in a 1952 plebiscite, and a 2019 survey on year-round daylight saving time drew more than 220,000 participants, with 93 per cent in support.

On the technology side, Google, Microsoft and Apple have patched their operating systems with the new PCT code. UBC Today suggests updating time zone settings, installing updates and double-checking times during the first week of November.