Two Canadian academics say year-round standard time is better for health than year-round daylight time, just as four jurisdictions prepare to skip the November clock change and stay on daylight time permanently, according to the Canadian Press.
The analysis, published Oct. 5, 2026, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, was co-authored by Ralph Mistlberger, a psychology professor at Simon Fraser University, and Patrick Baylis, an associate professor of economics at the University of British Columbia. They conclude that permanent standard time lines up better with human circadian rhythms than permanent daylight time does.
The timing matters for readers in the West. British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba have announced permanent year-round daylight time in 2026, with clocks staying put on Nov. 1 instead of falling back, according to the Canadian Press report. B.C.’s government says the final step happens on Nov. 1, after clocks moved forward on March 8, and that the province’s zone, called Pacific time (PCT), runs at UTC-7 all year. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s government announced on Sept. 17 that the province will stay on Central Daylight Time, citing sleep disruption and health effects of changing clocks twice a year, according to a Manitoba explainer from Karmactive.
What does that mean for your mornings? Mistlberger said permanent daylight time pushes sunrise later in winter. “You’re actually waking up at an earlier circadian phase,” he said. “Your clock may still be telling your brain and your body that this is the sleep period.” The authors link chronic sleep loss and circadian misalignment to metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease and higher cancer risk, according to the CP summary.
Baylis, the economist, said the debate has been framed too narrowly. “The survey gave two options…permanent daylight time. But those are the only two options,” he said, pointing out that permanent standard time is a third path that public consultations often leave off the table.
The authors do not argue that later light has no benefits. The CP report notes research from Florida finding that an extra hour of sunlight before school was linked to academic gains “comparable in magnitude to meaningful class-size reductions.” One U.S. study found that an hour of later sunset lowers long-term earnings by roughly five per cent. Those are U.S. findings and may not translate neatly to northern Canadian communities, where winter daylight is already scarce.
History is a warning too. According to the analysis as summarized by the Canadian Press, Russia reversed permanent daylight time after three years, from 2011 to 2014, and Chile reversed course in 2015. The United States abandoned the idea within about a year in 1974.
The northern angle is not new. Joseph De Koninck, an emeritus psychology professor at the University of Ottawa, has argued that Canada’s latitude makes clock changes especially hard on the body, with roughly 16 hours of daylight in June and as few as eight in December. He says the spring change, which costs people about 30 minutes of sleep on average, is the most harmful. He also says standard time promotes better sleep and avoids what researchers call social jet lag.
For young Canadians who commute early, work shifts or study in the dark months, the practical effect is simple: sunrise in the affected regions will arrive about an hour later in winter than it would under standard time. Shift workers and students on early schedules may feel that most. Provinces that have not announced changes, including Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, still fall back on Nov. 1. Saskatchewan and Yukon already run on a single year-round time.
What to watch: whether any of the four jurisdictions revisit their decisions after the first winter, and whether the CMAJ analysis prompts other provinces to consider standard time rather than permanent daylight time. This story is developing, and the sourcing for the provincial details comes from the CP report and provincial or explainer pages rather than government statements from every jurisdiction.
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Via Canadian Press (CKOM): Clocks stay in daylight saving, but analysis backs permanent standard time. Additional sources: Government of B.C.; Karmactive; University of Ottawa.
