Year-round standard time bill enacted

Summary#

Bill 214, the Time Amendment Act, 2020, amends Ontario’s Time Act, Election Act, Labour Relations Act, 1995 and Mining Act. Its stated goal is to make the time now called daylight saving time the standard time year-round. The bill was enacted, but it starts only on a day set by proclamation.

  • The Time Act would require standard time throughout the year.
  • Related wording in election, labour-relations and mining laws would be changed to match the year-round standard-time rule.
  • The bill does not create a new office, program, benefit, fee or penalty.

What it means for you#

  • People in Ontario: Once the law starts, the Time Act would require standard time all year, instead of seasonal use of standard and daylight saving time.
  • People dealing with election, labour-relations or mining rules: The bill removes or changes references to daylight saving time in those laws. It does not set out a new application or review process.
  • Everyone: The bill does not give a start date; that depends on a proclamation.

Money#

No publicly available information.

  • The supplied material gives no cost estimate or information about staffing, savings, lost revenue or other costs.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not give the proclamation date, so the change’s start date is unknown from the supplied material.
  • The current Time Act was not supplied, so its existing rules and the full effect of the amendments could not be checked against the Act.
  • The bill does not explain how the change would affect schedules or operations that depend on clock time.

Case for#

  • A possible argument for the bill is that using standard time throughout the year would end the seasonal change between standard time and daylight saving time.
  • Changing references in election, labour-relations and mining laws could make those provisions consistent with the year-round rule.

Case against#

  • The bill replaces seasonal changes with standard time all year; the supplied material does not explain why that choice is preferable for people or activities affected by clock time.
  • The bill gives no start date in its text. The change depends on a later proclamation, and the supplied material does not say when that will happen.