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March 04, 2016 - 6:30 PM
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The time to spring ahead is just around the corner and while you’re preparing to lose an hour from your day, two people from Kamloops hope this is one of the last times they have to make the swtich.
Last year, Bob Dieno and Tara Holmes launched a petition and campaign to stop the time change in British Columbia. Their Change.org petition garnered over 24,000 signatures across the country and even caught attention of local MLA’s Terry Lake and Todd Stone. With the winter over, Dieno says he and Holmes plan to keep the conversation going.
“As long as people are talking, the governments will deal with it. That’s the only way it’s going to have a positive effect,” he says.
By April, Dieno says you expect to see him and others launch a public campaign which will include booths at community events to encourage writing letters to local MLAs and more petition signings for those who may be reluctant to sign online.
Dieno says since the petition's small beginnings word has spread and he’s been contacted by people across the country who share the same passion to stop the time change. People from Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia want to start their own petitions as well, Dieno says, including some who hope the entire Pacific Time Zone will do away with switching clocks.
On Sunday, March 13 Daylight Saving Time is back. It's the day we‘spring-forward’ and lose an hour of sleep.
“This is the bad one. Everyone hates this one,” Dieno says. “The majority of the issues that present themselves obviously happen this time of year. Losing an hour of sleep is where issues show up — of course we’re going back to it being darker in the morning. It can take people up to a week for people to recover. It just takes people time to adjust and we would obviously like that to stop."
To view the petition, click here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016