Quebecers and residents of most Canadian provinces will lose an hour of sleep overnight Saturday through Sunday, but gain an hour of daylight each evening through next fall.
It is indeed this weekend that most Canadians will change their time to return to Eastern Daylight Time, commonly known as “summer time”. So, at 2 a.m. on Sunday, it will already be 3 a.m. This lost hour of sleep will be compensated by the fact that the sun will set later at the end of the day, around 7 p.m. in Montreal and neighboring regions.
On most so-called “smart” mobile devices, this change will happen automatically, but those with more traditional clocks or alarm clocks can advance them an hour before going to sleep on Saturday.
The debate continues
It’s not just our watches that will have to be adjusted this weekend: our biological clock will also be affected by this time change. Scientific studies have in fact shown that it often takes up to five days to completely get used to this time change, which occurs twice a year.
The eternal debate on the time change continues elsewhere and continues to divide. Some provinces have decided to avoid these headaches and keep the same time all year round. This is the case for Saskatchewan, the Yukon and parts of British Columbia.
In recent years, Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario have also expressed their interest in ending the tradition of changing the clock, which originated in 1918. This measure was initially intended to increase the production during World War I.
Bars, which are slowly recovering from the ravages of COVID-19 on their industry, will also lose this weekend from this time change, since they will have to stop selling alcohol at 2 a.m. instead of 3 a.m., recalled on its website the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
Prevent fires
As every year, the City of Montreal took advantage of the approach of the time change on Friday to remind residents of the metropolis to change the batteries of their smoke alarms after 3,980 fires occurred last year in the metropolis.
The next time change — backwards this time — will take place in Quebec on the night of November 5 to 6.