Ending seasonal time change could help business, but not enough for universal support

TORONTO – There are potential economic benefits to ending seasonal time changes, but not enough for British Columbia’s move to have drawn complete support from the business community. 

The province’s move to make daylight-saving time permanent, without co-ordination with neighbouring U.S. states, has led the B.C. Chamber of Commerce to voice support while the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade has raised concerns.

Along with the potential health benefits of ending future time changes, the B.C. Chamber cites reducing scheduling disruptions, workforce fatigue and the administrative burden as reasons for the move.

“Ending the twice-yearly time change is something our members have been calling for (for) a long time, and for good reason,” said Jen Riley, chief executive of the B.C. Chamber in a news release.

“The disruption is real, whether you’re running a small business, managing a team of shift workers, or just trying to get your kids to school on Monday morning.”

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, meanwhile, raised concerns about the province going it alone.

The unilateral change in time is “an unwelcome distraction that will make it more difficult to attract and retain businesses in British Columbia,” said Bridgitte Anderson, CEO of the GVBT in a statement.

The divisions show why it has taken so long for policy changes to happen on daylight savings, said Mark Kamstra, a finance professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business.

“There’s a tendency for all of us, even people who are not particularly conservative, to just stay with status quo,” said Kamstra.

“If you make it change, you have to argue for clear benefits and no downsides, and there’s never a case that’s quite like that.”

B.C.’s move will mean some parts of the province won’t see the sun rise until after 9 a.m. in the depths of winter, raising concerns about misalignment between the body’s natural rhythm and the alarm clock. 

Kamstra said there are however also numerous health benefits to not changing the clocks, including potentially fewer car accidents. 

Clock changes also seem to lead to more market volatility. Kamstra co-wrote a research paper linking significant market drops to the time change. 

Switching clocks have also shown to affect productivity, as reported in a research paper from the University of Oregon in 2024. The paper found effects were most pronounced in the days after the change, but showed evidence of affecting morning productivity two weeks after clocks shifted.

But so far, business groups in Canada’s most populous provinces aren’t pushing hard for a change.

The Ontario an Quebec chambers of commerce both declined to comment on whether their provinces should move ahead with a permanent change.

As it stands, Ontario has passed a law that it will make daylight-saving time permanent, but only if Quebec and New York also go ahead.

Co-ordinating with stock markets in New York comes up as a potential barrier, but Kamstra said he doesn’t see that as a big issue.

“I think in Ontario, if we made the change, markets would adjust very easily. These high-frequency traders and other facilitators of market activity are not going to be thrown off by this.”

But while the barriers might not be that high, and benefits could come, the issue might just not be of enough concern to make people act.

“The problem I think politicians have is if they make a change, they’ll be blamed. And if they don’t make a change, they won’t be blamed. So that makes it really difficult to engage in something like this.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.