When most of Canada changes clocks to follow daylight saving time Sunday morning, Saskatchewan’s border cities will find themselves divided in a province that has uniform time year-round.
Two municipalities in Saskatchewan border another province: Lloydminster on the west is partly in Alberta, and Flin Flon on the east abuts Manitoba.
“We are kind of unique in our situation because we’re kind of viewed as a tri-region,” said Brooke White, regional tourism officer for Flin Flon and nearby Creighton.
She said those two Saskatchewan communities follow Manitoba time rather than the rest of the province’s.
“It can be kind of confusing at times,“ she admitted, but ”everyone knows the communities. They come here for work and groceries and it’s just probably simpler to do.”
In Lloydminster, where the border with Alberta divides the city in two, the time changes twice a year, just like in Alberta.
“The time change doesn’t change much in the way of business,” the city’s communications department told The Epoch Times in an email. “From our perspective, it does change how meetings are handled, especially when interacting with Saskatchewan vendors or the provincial government.”
Some neighbouring Saskatchewan communities also change time to keep in step with Alberta, including Marsden, Neilburd, Marshall, Lashburn, and Maidstone, according to the email.
“Because these towns are so connected to Lloydminster, they have opted to change to keep things simple.”
Prior to the 1960s, Saskatchewan communities were allowed to decide for themselves which time zone to follow. A patchwork of time zones resulted, with some regions preferring Central time and others Mountain time. Daylight Saving Time further complicated things.
In 1966, the government enacted the Time Act, hoping to clear up the chaos.
The act said that Central Time would be used year-round in eastern Saskatchewan, while the west was divided into areas that observed Central Time in the summer and Mountain Time in the winter. There were exceptions allowing residents in some areas to vote for a change.
In recent years, the majority of communities that could choose their own time have voted to go on permanent Central Time, the website said, meaning most of the province is on Central Time all year.
Daylight saving time will begin at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10.
