Dear Editor, The NDP brought in the carbon tax to near-universal opposition. They raised the minimum wage despite opposition from many businesses and business groups. But, when they tried to scrap the twice-annual ritual of finding all your clocks to waste time adjusting them, news reports indicated only the Flames, Oilers and WestJet were opposed. Ironically, these organizations routinely schedule events across multiple time zones, and often to locations that do not use daylight saving time (DST) – Arizona, with no DST, and Saskatchewan, on year-round DST. With carbon tax rebates and carbon tax costs, it’s hard to tell if my total costs have gone up. I never noticed the carbon tax at the pump since those prices randomly rise or fall by 20 cents per litre, anyway. I am one of the vast majority of Albertans unaffected by minimum wage changes, so I haven’t noticed that, either. But two times per year, I am one of the group of every Albertan that has to fiddle with their clocks for no beneficial reason. British Columbia municipalities voted against the time changes, Florida has voted to stay on year-round DST and the European Union is trying to end the biannual hassle. Alberta missed its chance to be a leader by staying on DST year-round, but it’s still not too late to end the practice. Our politicians can’t do much about oil prices or magically create jobs, but they can, with very simple legislation, make our lives simpler and better by switching to year-round DST like Saskatchewan. If people are worried about a permanent change, let’s try year-round DST for five years, and then see if anyone wants to switch back. John McMurray Division 6
