The Banff Ski School is asking the Alberta government to consult more widely with residents before passing a bill that would keep the province on daylight time permanently.

The ski school, which filed its registration on May 30, said it wanted to discuss the daylight time portion of Alberta’s Bill 31, which “holds potential to affect Alberta’s ski industry negatively.”

The ski school argues there was no consultation from the province before the measure was included in the bill, and that the time zone decision should be “part of the bigger referendum that will be presented at a later date by the [Government of Alberta].”

Ski industry members have expressed concerns that less morning daylight in the peak winter months would reduce overall traffic on hills, and that an extra hour of daylight in the evening wouldn’t make up for the lost time.

The province did conduct “targeted engagement” about time zone changes with the public and stakeholders in March before it included the measure in Bill 31, which was tabled in April.

According to the province, the “new approach would better align with neighbouring jurisdictions, reducing confusion and co-ordination challenges."

Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said in an email that seasonal clock changes are linked to “negative health and safety impacts, including an increased risk of accidents following the spring time change.”

Nally’s office said it spoke “with a wide array of industry partners, including tourism operators,” and “while not every tourism operator agrees with our decision, our responsibility is to make decisions that best serve Albertans.”

If the bill is adopted, it would be the second province in Canada to adopt daylight time as permanent, after B.C. took that step earlier this year. Yukon also permanently abandoned the fall time change in 2020.

B.C. said its move would improve health, limit scheduling disruptions and give people an extra hour of daylight on winter evenings.

Saskatchewan has maintained a permanent time zone since 1966, though it stayed on standard time.

If Alberta adopted permanent daylight time, as the bill proposes, the province would share a time zone with Saskatchewan.

Ontario passed legislation to stop changing its clocks in 2020, but the province has said it will only enact it if New York state and Quebec, which are in the same time zone, do the same.

Nally said there are “developments in the United States that could ultimately lead to the adoption of permanent daylight time south of the border,” meaning Ontario could also end the time change before long.

Alberta has long been considering the measure. In 2019, provincial engagements found Albertans were overwhelmingly in favour of staying on daylight time, but a 2021 referendum on ditching the time change just barely lost with 49.8 per cent of voters in favour.

Permanent daylight time is only one of the myriad measures included in Bill 31, which covers everything from land title administration, to advertising rules for private online gambling operators, to waste control.

Banff Ski School did not respond to the IJF’s request for comment.

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