This is an excerpt from Temperature Check, a weekly newsletter about what’s hot, and what’s not, when it comes to energy and the environment in Canada. Subscribe now to receive next week’s edition in your inbox.
Evidence, public opinion and corporate influence: all three affect government policy, whether the federal budget or … last weekend’s time change. Or the absence of one, if you live in B.C., Alberta or Manitoba, which stuck to daylight saving time as (most of) eastern Canada fell back.
The calendar chaos is countrywide, but it’s westerners who will feel long-term effects. Biologists agree that lack of morning light isn’t great for our bodies, making Saskatchewan’s choice of permanent standard time a healthier one. Instead, come Christmas, our managing editor in Edmonton won’t see the sun until 9:50 a.m.
How did we get here? An oft-cited 2019 survey found 93 per cent of B.C. respondents supported permanent daylight saving time. They clearly disliked twice-yearly switching, but here’s the catch: they weren’t asked about permanent standard time, so couldn’t choose it. The framing of the question matters enormously, as does the respondent’s knowledge of the subject.
That’s also true about polls showing strong support for the federal government’s resource production push. Did the questions mention the regulations being weakened to fast-track projects, which echo an oil and gas industry wish list? Canadians without that information might have it soon. This past week, Politico, the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail all detailed the Liberals’ steady stream of environmental cuts, suggesting cracks in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s climate cred.
Tomorrow’s budget will fund programs to protect the environment, as well as those that could harm it. It will also offer more evidence of how this government balances corporate influence and scientific expertise for the public to consider.
Because one truth about public opinion is that it always changes. Ask Russia, which endured permanent daylight saving time for three years before pulling the plug.
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