Nova Scotia eyes daylight savings time change

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – It’s going to take some time for Nova Scotia to decide whether to follow the U.S. lead in changing the hours of daylight in March and November.

President Bush has signed an energy bill that will start daylight savings time three weeks earlier, and end a week later starting in 2007.

Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm said the province has to take a look at the issue, but said Wednesday he does not yet have a position on the issue.

The time change, which is expected to get at least a brief discussion at a Canadian premiers meeting this week, comes months after neighboring Maine also considered but later rejected a time change if its own.

Under the bill proposed in Maine, the state would move into the Atlantic Time Zone, the same used in some Canadian Maritime Provinces. In effect, there would have been no more clock changing to account for daylight saving time in the state.

The defeated bill called for a referendum on the change and authorization by the U.S. transportation secretary.

In Canada, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer has already said he wants his province to change in accordance with the new American law since it would make sense to stay in line with Canada’s largest trading partner.

He also noted an extra hour of daylight on Halloween would be safer for trick-or-treaters.

Hamm said he’ll ask the provincial Energy Department to calculate potential energy savings. “It’s more than an issue about whether or not you can afford the energy, it’s all about conservation,” he said.