U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Monday that he would be open to permanently keeping Daylight Saving Time just a day after several states bumped their clocks forward one hour.
“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!” Trump tweeted.
While Trump’s tweet didn’t mention whether he was planning to take any real action, there has been talk of getting rid of the semi-annual time change.
Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers introduced a bill that would do exactly that for the entire country.
READ MORE: What you need to know about Daylight Saving Time 2019
The Sunshine Protection Act was filed by Sen. Marco Rubio, who took the initiative a week after Florida’s legislature voted to make their state the nation’s first to adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time statewide — a change that can’t take effect unless Congress changes federal law.
Daylight Saving Time currently runs from March to November, forcing those in many western countries to set their clocks ahead one hour in the spring and then turn them back an hour in the fall.
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Beyond the U.S., the European Union is considering abandoning the practice by 2021, with legislators likely voting on the proposal by the end of March.
In Canada, there have been conversations and several petitions calling for the time-changing practice to be abolished. But that hasn’t really resulted in any real action.
Canadian officials have indicated any time adjustments would be coordinated — or at least communicated — with our neighbours south of the border.
READ MORE: Time may soon be up on changing B.C.’s clocks for Daylight Saving Time
In fact, British Columbia Premier John Horgan recently sent a letter to governors in the states of Washington, Oregon and California asking to be kept in the loop about any possible changes.
The jurisdictions are looking at ways to stay on either Daylight Saving Time or Pacific Standard Time year-round.
Not all of Canada observes Daylight Saving Time though – notably most of Saskatchewan, Fort Nelson, Creston and the Peace River Regional District in B.C., don’t change their clocks. A few towns in Ontario and Quebec’s north shore also don’t do Daylight Saving.
—With files from Global News reporters Leslie Young, Richard Zussman and the Associated Press
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