1972 British Columbia time plebiscite

Last updated

British Columbia time referendum
Flag of British Columbia.svg
August 30, 1972 (1972-08-30)

Are you in favour of Pacific Standard time, including Pacific Daylight Saving time, as it is applicable now throughout the province?
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svg Yes11,47135.07%
Light brown x.svg No21,23664.93%
Valid votes32,70797.62%
Invalid or blank votes7972.38%
Total votes33,504100.00%

A referendum was held in British Columbia on August 30, 1972, simultaneously with a general election. The actual referendum only took place in four electoral districts and part of a fifth, all in the northeast or southeast parts of the province. The purpose of the vote was to determine which areas favoured following Mountain Time rather than Pacific Time and whether to follow daylight saving time or not. All areas chose to follow Mountain Time.

Contents

Lead-up

The referendum was the result of events in Alberta where, in 1971, Albertans voted to enact daylight saving time. Areas in the Peace River Country and Southeast were economically tied to Alberta, and hence were also on Mountain Time. [1]

The question was:

Are you in favour of Pacific Standard time, including Pacific Daylight Saving time, as it is applicable now throughout the province? [2]

Results

Only four ridings and part of a fifth took part in the referendum. The two ridings in the northeastern part of the province were North Peace River and South Peace River. The two ridings in the southeastern part were Columbia River and Kootenay. Residents of Nelson-Creston east of an imaginary line running through Kootenay Lake and the Kootenay River that bisected that riding also took part. [2]

DistrictYesPercentageNoPercentageRejectedTotal
Columbia River 136634.95244562.56973908
Kootenay 458335.04812362.1137213078
East part of Nelson-Creston 190049.39194750.6103847
North Peace River 176929.83407968.77835931
South Peace River 185327.49464268.872456740
Total1147134.242123663.3879733504
Source: [2]

Aftermath

The result of the referendum was Mountain Time being used instead of Pacific Time in places that rejected Pacific Time (which had been province-wide). [2] Hence, the boundary between time zones in British Columbia ended up being different from the provincial boundary. [3] [4]

The northeast is on Mountain Standard Time year-round, without daylight saving time. In practice, this means that time there is identical with Alberta's in the winter and the rest of BC's in summer. The southeast is similar, with most of the applicable area on Mountain Time and following DST. The Creston area is exceptional, ignoring DST. This puts that town in a situation similar to the northeast. [5]

Since the time referendum the issue has flared up in Creston politics at least twice. At least two referendums have been held, neither of which succeeded in changing the status quo. [1]

In 2014 residents of Fort Nelson voted in favour of switching from Pacific Time with DST to year-round Mountain Standard Time. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Time Zone</span> Time zone in North America

The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and some Caribbean islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Time Zone</span> Time zone of North America

The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time (UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time (UTC−06:00). The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time at the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States, the exact specification for the location of time zones and the dividing lines between zones is set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations at 49 CFR 71.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Time Zone</span> North American time zone

The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). During daylight saving time, a time offset of UTC−07:00 is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kootenays</span> Region of British Columbia in Canada

The Kootenays or Kootenay is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creston, British Columbia</span> Town in British Columbia, Canada

Creston is a town in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1967 Alberta general election</span>

The 1967 Alberta general election was held on May 23, 1967, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 16th Alberta Legislature. The election was called after the 15th Alberta Legislature was prorogued on April 11, 1967, and dissolved on April 14, 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace River Regional District</span> Regional district in British Columbia, Canada

The Peace River Regional District is a regional district in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The regional district comprises seven municipalities and four electoral areas. Its member municipalities are the cities of Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, the district municipalities of Tumbler Ridge, Chetwynd, Taylor, and Hudson's Hope, and the village of Pouce Coupe. The district's administrative offices are in Dawson Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UTC−07:00</span> Identifier for a time offset from UTC of −7

UTC−07:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −07:00. In North America, it is observed in the Mountain Time Zone during standard time, and in the Pacific Time Zone during the other eight months. Some locations use it year-round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Australia</span>

Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Eastern Standard Time, Australian Central Standard Time and Australian Western Standard Time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Brazil</span>

Time in Brazil is calculated using standard time, and the country is divided into four standard time zones: UTC−02:00, UTC−03:00, UTC−04:00 and UTC−05:00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Canada</span>

Canada is divided into six time zones. Most areas of the country's provinces and territories operate on standard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March and daylight saving time the rest of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Columbia Interior</span> Interior region of British Columbia, Canada

The British Columbia Interior, popularly referred to as the BC Interior or simply the Interior, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the British Columbia Interior is generally defined to include the 14 regional districts that do not have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, and are not part of the Lower Mainland. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, or expand the definition to include the regional districts of Fraser Valley, Squamish–Lillooet, and Kitimat–Stikine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Saskatchewan</span>

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is geographically in the Mountain Time Zone (GMT−07:00). However, most of the province observes GMT−06:00 year-round. As a result, it is on daylight saving time (DST) year-round, as clocks are not turned back an hour in autumn when most jurisdictions return to standard time.

British Columbia Highway 3, officially named the Crowsnest Highway, is an 841-kilometre (523 mi) highway that traverses southern British Columbia, Canada. It runs from the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) at Hope to Crowsnest Pass at the Alberta border and forms the western portion of the interprovincial Crowsnest Highway that runs from Hope to Medicine Hat, Alberta. The highway is considered a Core Route of the National Highway System.

An electoral redistribution was undertaken in 2008 in British Columbia in a process that began in late 2005 and was completed with the passage of the Electoral Districts Act, 2008 on April 10, 2008. The redistribution modified most electoral boundaries in the province and increased the number of MLAs from 79 to 85. The electoral boundaries created by the redistribution were first used in the 2009 provincial election.

Crawford Bay is a community of approximately 350 people, situated in the Purcell mountain range on the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This location on Highyway 3A is 76 kilometres (47 mi) by road north of Creston and 48 kilometres (29.8 mi) by road and ferry northeast across Kootenay Lake from Nelson.

In Canada, daylight saving time (DST) is observed in nine of the country's ten provinces and two of its three territories—though with exceptions in parts of several provinces and Nunavut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time in Australia</span> Observation of daylight saving time in Australia

Each state and territory of Australia determines whether or not to use daylight saving time (DST). However, during World War I and World War II all states and territories had daylight saving by federal law, under the defence power in section 51 of the constitution. In 1968, Tasmania was the first state since the war to adopt daylight saving. In 1971, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory also adopted daylight saving, while Western Australia and the Northern Territory did not. Queensland abandoned daylight saving in 1972. Queensland and Western Australia have observed daylight saving over the past 40 years from time to time on a trial basis.

An electoral redistribution in British Columbia was undertaken by the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission beginning in 2014 and was formalized by the passage of Bill 42, the 2015 Electoral Districts Act, during the 40th British Columbia Parliament. The act came into effect on November 17, 2015. The redistribution added two seats to the previous total, increasing the number of MLAs in the province from 85 to 87. The electoral boundaries came into effect for the 2017 election. The next redistribution is required to occur following the 2020 British Columbia general election.

On October 18, 2021, a referendum was held in Alberta, Canada on two questions, whether equalization payments should be eliminated from the Constitution of Canada, and whether the province should observe daylight saving time year-round. The referendum was held as part of the 2021 Alberta municipal elections and the Senate nominee election.

References

  1. 1 2 Mike Crawley (April 6, 1996). "Not everyone in B.C. will be turning clock forward tonight: The Peace River region and the Kootenay town of Creston stay on standard time all year while the rest of us go to daylight time". Vancouver Province. p. A14.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Time Plebiscite". Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986. Elections BC. Archived from the original on March 1, 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  3. "Winter Time Zones" (PDF). National Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  4. "Summer Time Zones" (PDF). National Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  5. H. David Matthews & Mary Vincent (September–October 1998). "It's About Time". Canadian Geographic. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  6. "Fort Nelson votes in favour of changing time zone - Energeticcity.ca". Energeticcity.ca. November 15, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2017.