Daylight Saving Time: New Brunswick's Exception

New Brunswick, Canada, does observe Daylight Saving Time (DST). In 2024, DST will begin on Sunday, March 10, at 2:00 a.m., when clocks will be turned forward one hour to 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On Sunday, November 3, at 2:00 a.m., clocks will be turned back one hour to 1:00 a.m. local standard time. New Brunswick first observed DST in 1918 and has observed it for 92 years between 1918 and 2024.

In 2020, there was discussion about the possibility of adopting permanent daylight time in New Brunswick, and a recent poll found that 91% of New Brunswick respondents would support the change. However, Premier Blaine Higgs has stated that he will only adopt year-round daylight time if the other Maritime provinces do as well.

New Brunswick observes Daylight Saving Time

New Brunswick, Canada, observes Daylight Saving Time (DST). In 2024, DST will begin on Sunday, March 10, at 2:00 a.m., when clocks will be turned forward one hour to 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. This will result in sunrise and sunset occurring about one hour later than the day before, meaning there will be more light in the evening.

On Sunday, November 3, at 2:00 a.m., DST will end, and clocks will be turned backward one hour to 1:00 a.m. local standard time. This will cause sunrise and sunset to occur about one hour earlier than the previous day, resulting in more morning light.

New Brunswick first observed DST in 1918 and has done so for 92 years between that year and 2024. The province did not observe DST in 1973.

In 2020, discussions were held by the premiers of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia about the possibility of adopting permanent DST. This followed a similar bill proposed in the US Senate, which did not pass. In 2024, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs expressed support for keeping DST year-round if the other Maritime provinces did the same.

Clocks go forward on the second Sunday in March

New Brunswick, Canada, does observe Daylight Saving Time (DST). In 2024, the clocks will go forward by one hour at 2:00 am on Sunday, March 10, marking the start of DST. This will mean there will be more light in the evening, but less in the morning.

New Brunswick first observed Daylight Saving Time in 1918, though there was a period in 1973 when DST was not observed. In common with the rest of Canada, DST begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

In 2020, the idea of using daylight time year-round was proposed, and the province's Premier Blaine Higgs said he would support this if the other Maritime provinces did so too. However, as of 2024, New Brunswick continues to use DST.

Clocks go back on the first Sunday in November

New Brunswick, Canada, does observe Daylight Saving Time. In 2024, the clocks will go back one hour at 2:00 am on the first Sunday in November, which is the 3rd of November. This marks the end of Daylight Saving Time and the return to Standard Time.

The practice of turning clocks back one hour on the first Sunday in November has been observed in New Brunswick since 2005. This change was made following the United States' adoption of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which added parts of March and November to the period during which Daylight Saving Time is observed.

The end of Daylight Saving Time in November is often referred to as "Fall Back" or "Winter Time". When the clocks go back, there will be more light in the morning but the sun will set an hour earlier. This change can be challenging for some people, as the "'loss' of an hour can affect their health and well-being." However, there have been discussions about the possibility of adopting permanent Daylight Time in New Brunswick, which would mean that clocks would be turned ahead by one hour in March and then left there without being turned back in the fall.

In the spring, when Daylight Saving Time begins, clocks are turned forward one hour at 2:00 am on the second Sunday in March. This marks the start of "Spring Forward" or "Summer Time", when there is more light in the evening.

New Brunswick first observed DST in 1918

New Brunswick first adopted Daylight Saving Time (DST) in 1918, the same year that the United States Congress passed the Standard Time Act, formalising the time zones.

The first municipality in the world to enact DST was Port Arthur, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay) on July 1, 1908. Germany became the first country to adopt the time change on April 30, 1916. Five Canadian cities used DST before 1918, including Regina, Saskatchewan; Brandon and Winnipeg, Manitoba; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Hamilton, Ontario; and St. John's, Newfoundland.

In 1918, Canada adopted a similar policy to the US, moving all clocks ahead by one hour at 2:00 a.m. on March 31. Canadians were encouraged to turn off their lights and go to bed earlier, at around 8:00 p.m.

DST was actually first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, in a whimsical essay called "An Economical Project". In it, he advocated for laws forcing citizens to rise at the crack of dawn to save on candlelight. Franklin wrote:

> "Every morning, as soon as the Sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing: and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street to wake the sluggards effectually… . Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is probable that he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening."

The first true proponent of DST was Englishman William Willet, who conceived the idea in 1907 while riding his horse at sunrise. He noticed that the shutters of houses were tightly closed and wanted to increase the amount of daylight people could enjoy in the summer evenings. In his manifesto, "The Waste of Daylight", Willet wrote:

> "Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shrinkage as the days grow shorter, and nearly everyone has given utterance to a regret that the nearly clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used… . That so many as 210 hours of daylight are, to all intents and purposes, wasted every year is a defect in our civilization. Let England recognize and remedy it."

Willet spent a fortune lobbying for his idea, but it was met with ridicule. One community opposed it on moral grounds, calling it the sin of "lying" about the true time.

However, attitudes changed with the outbreak of World War I, as the need to conserve coal for heating homes became a priority. The Germans were the first to adopt the system in 1915, followed by Britain in 1916.

There is support for keeping DST year-round

New Brunswick, Canada, has observed Daylight Saving Time (DST) since 1918, with the exception of 1973. DST is observed in nine of Canada's ten provinces and two of its three territories.

Support for keeping DST year-round is not limited to New Brunswick. In 2022, the premiers of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia discussed the possibility of adopting permanent daylight time. In the same year, the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would have made DST permanent, but it was not approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.

There are several arguments in favour of keeping DST year-round. Firstly, it could reduce crime. A 2013 British study found that improved lighting in the evening could reduce the crime rate by up to 20%. A 2015 study in the Review of Economics and Statistics also found a 7% decrease in crime following the shift to DST, with a 27% drop in robberies during the evening hour of gained sunlight.

Secondly, DST could improve road safety. Studies have shown that DST reduces pedestrian fatalities by 13% during dawn and dusk hours. A 2015 paper from the Brookings Institute found a 7% decrease in crime following the shift to DST, resulting in an estimated $59 million in savings from robberies not committed.

Thirdly, DST could have positive effects on health and sleep. Critics of the biannual clock switch point to research indicating that heart attacks increase by 24% in the week after the U.S. "springs forward" in March. There is also an uptick during the week in November when the clocks "fall back".

Finally, DST could benefit businesses and outdoor recreational interests. Businesses could attract more customers during the brighter evenings, and people would be more likely to engage in outdoor activities.

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