Our time zone is one of the widest in the world (35 degrees, while the average time zone is 24 degrees), and attempts to accommodate citizens from Thunder Bay to Percé. The majority of people need light from 7:30 or 8 a.m. in the morning until 9 a.m. in the evening. In Quebec, the shortest day includes between 8h25 of light in Rouyn and 9h4 in Percé.
Choosing to give Montreal as much light as possible deprives Gaspé residents of a full hour of light, because their day of light begins at 6:31 a.m. and ends at 3:35 p.m. We have been accustomed to this regime for a long time, we can probably continue to live with it.
On the longest day of summer, with daylight saving time, the sun rises at 5:3 a.m. in Montreal, and sets at 8:48 p.m. If we switch to standard time, we waste almost 4 hours of light in the morning that we could use in the evening. Even worse in Percé, where the sun would rise at 3:12 a.m. and set at 7:24 p.m.!
In conclusion, if we were to abandon the time change, it seems obvious that it is daylight saving time that we must maintain all year round, to benefit from the greatest number of hours of sunshine. But is it such a big deal to change the time (and our smoke alarm batteries!) twice a year?
We could do even better, and choose, like Paris, to use daylight saving time in winter (a little help for Gaspé residents) and late time in summer (two hours difference with standard time) to enjoy the sun from 6 a.m. until almost 10 p.m. in Montreal. I vote for that!
Jean Goulet, Sherbrooke
Belgium
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