Although it's only been a few weeks since fall, it's already time to start thinking about the approaching winter and the increasing darkness we Canadians will soon have to endure.

Daylight saving time 2024 ends on November 3rd. So consider this your one-month warning.

In most time zones this year, Canadians will be able to “fall back” before going to bed on Saturday, November 2nd, as clocks will go back in the early hours of Sunday, November 3rd while most people are sleeping.

(The Yukon, most of Saskatchewan, and some parts of British Columbia and Quebec are on standard time.)

These days, most digital and Wi-Fi connected devices reset automatically, but it never hurts to check the clock on November 3rd and save yourself the embarrassment of showing up to work early on Monday.

For years, Canadians fed up with this bi-annual, time-traveling change have argued that daylight saving time should be made permanent across Canada.

Peter Graefe, an associate professor of political science at McMaster University, previously told Global News that it wouldn't be an easy transition unless all provinces – and even our neighbors to the south – got on board.

“It’s difficult because it’s a collective action problem,” he said.

“If all the provinces and states move at the same time, we will all have the same relationship with each other. On the other hand, if only certain provinces were to move, they would suddenly be out of balance with their neighboring states and provinces.”

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Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Health and Safety

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According to some historians and archivists, daylight saving time originated around 1908 and 1909 in what is now Thunder Bay, Ontario.

But the province where it likely began has indicated it wants to end the time change system. In 2020, the Ontario legislature unanimously passed a private members' bill called the Time Amendment Act, which aimed to make daylight saving time permanent.

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While some jurisdictions in Canada, including Yukon and Saskatchewan, have permanent daylight saving time, Graefe said many will look to Canada's most populous province as a model.

“I suspect that if Ontario were to lead the way, other provinces would see whether the sky was falling or not,” he said.

But Ontario is looking south of the border for clues. The 2020 bill contained a key provision: Ontario would adopt daylight saving time only if New York and Quebec did so.

“Economic problems would arise if you had a single mover and not everyone had to move together,” said Graefe.

British Columbia has also taken a big step in this direction with a 2019 law that would make the change permanent, but a date for the change has not been set. The province said it wants to join Washington, Oregon and California. All three West Coast states have passed their own laws to permanently maintain daylight saving time.

Proponents of permanent daylight saving time saw some hope in 2022 when the U.S. Senate voted to make the change permanent. However, Werner Antweiler, an associate professor at the UBC Sauder School of Business, told Global News that the bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act, has made no further progress.

“The effort will stall until the US Congress passes the relevant legislation,” he said. “That then triggers existing legislation in several US states and ultimately decides the fate of our own legislation in places (e.g. BC) that are waiting to adopt year-round daylight saving time if/when they agree with US states “same time zone.”

The idea behind the clock shift is to maximize sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere as days begin to lengthen in spring and shorten again in fall. The logic is that by jumping back and forth, people add an hour of sunlight to the end of the workday. However, the benefits of this change are controversial and the change may have measurable health effects.

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The sleep expert gives tips on how to deal with the time change

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Doctors at the University of Turku in Finland have suggested that the time change increases the risk of strokes and heart attacks by seven percent.

And earlier this year, a report published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health found that the annual change in March disrupts Canadians' circadian rhythms.

“The change to daylight saving time in March is the one that causes the most disruption, as it forces a photoperiod misalignment that will persist over the next eight months,” the report said.

“The potential loss of one hour of sleep can lead to the immediate negative effects of daylight saving time on daytime functioning, physical and mental health problems, and reduced overall performance.”

&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.