If I could change anything in the Creston Valley what would it be? The time, of course. I would like to see the Creston Valley adopt daylight time. From April to November each year, our clocks would move ahead one hour and then fall back for the winter months. Daylight time “makes” the sun set one hour later in the evening, effectively giving us one hour more daylight in the evenings. There are many benefits to adopting daylight time — Cranbrook time, or mountain daylight time (MDT) — in our area.
It will save energy. There is a saving of about one per cent of electricity usage per day with daylight time. About 25 percent of the electricity used in the average household is used for lighting and small appliances, much of this in the evening. By moving the clock ahead by one hour, allowing more daylight in the evening, we reduce the amount of energy used each day.
It will improve health and safety. More light in the evenings makes for a safer community. As well, by adopting daylight time, the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District board estimates they will see a saving of about $60,000 per year. That is a lot of wasted health care dollars. So every year that the Creston Valley continues to not change to MDT, $60,000 is wasted.
It will improve your quality of life. Adopting daylight time will allow for more evening hours of sunlight — more time to garden, walk, participate in sports and other outdoor activities.
It will end the confusion. How many times have you heard people (sensible, intelligent people) tell of missed appointments or showing up too early because of the time? Adopting daylight time will stop all the confusion about, “What time is it in Creston right now?” The financial cost of this confusion may be impossible to calculate but it is real. Another source of confusion that occurs because we do not switch to daylight time is modern electronics. Naysayers of MDT use the excuse that they can’t reprogram their VCR when the time switches. But now, by not changing time, many of our electronic devices have to be adjusted because they automatically switch time. Again, more confusion.
In an effort to try to understand how Creston came to be in this time warp, I looked into the history of the issue. In 1952, the provincial government held a provincewide referendum, asking, “Are you in favour of daylight saving time?” The referendum passed and the province of B.C. adopted daylight time. For some reason that I could not find, Creston did not adopt daylight time. Not very democratic, if you ask me.
Since discussion on this issue has been going on for a long time, I looked into what would be necessary to make the change to daylight time. The provincial government would have to make a legislative change for the Creston Valley to be on daylight time. Before such a change could be made, an opinion poll would have to be undertaken to show that a majority of the registered voters in the area were in favour of changing. Then the province could either hold its own referendum on the question before making the legislative change or just make the change.
In March 2011, Creston town council passed a motion to ask the Creston Valley services committee (CVSC) to hold such an opinion poll, asking the residents of the Creston Valley if they are in favour of adopting daylight time. The CVSC is made up of the four Regional District of Central Kootenay directors of the valley, John Kettle (Area B), Larry Binks (Area C), Garry Jackman (Area A) and Creston Mayor Ron Toyota.
Mayor Toyota brought the request from town council to the CVSC but it has chosen not to respond and there the path has grown cold. Once again, democracy is failing to work. Instead of allowing the residents of the Creston Valley a democratic opportunity to once and for all settle this issue, Kettle, Binks and Jackman are choosing for all of us. This does not sit well with me. So if you would like a chance to voice your opinion on daylight time in the Creston Valley, please encourage your director to hold a democratic opinion poll on the question.
Judy Gadicke is a councillor for the Town of Creston, and was acting mayor in June.
