time changes people

Ah, the last Sunday of October, the day North America willingly plunges itself into darkness. We trade one extra hour of sleep (a real treat if you are drinking in a Montreal bar at 5am) for a winter of leaving work in the pitch black. So why do we bother?

First off, we are not making the day shorter but rather returning to 'standard time'. This is the time that was the norm pre-1916 when the Germans first adopted the notion of 'daylight saving time' and it snowballed its way through Britain to North America. Ponder the notion of standard time long enough and an implosion in your frontal lobe will likely coincide with the epiphany that it is really all somewhat arbitrary. I mean really: an international date line?

The US of A has decided to extend daylight savings by 4 weeks in 2007. Ontario, has decided to become the Federal equivalent of Lloydminster. Apparently the town of Lloydminster, which straddles the Alberta - Saskatchewan border, decided that it would follow Alberta and become an oasis of light in one-hour-darkened Saskatchewan. Ontario, since at least psychologically Toronto straddles the border between us and our more sophisticated neighbors to the south, decided that it would follow the American lead and grant its denizens the 4 extra weeks of light. The clocks will spring forward 3 weeks earlier and fall back one week later. It is an open question as to whether the rest of Canada will follow suit. I propose a test referendum in Québec.

Twice a year, Michael Downing does a spree of interviews about the book he has written "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time". The gist of the book is that daylight saving legislation is encouraged by an evil conglomeration of the barbeque industry, golfers retailers and . . . you guessed it . . . big oil. The argument goes that when that extra time is moved to the useful hours at the end of the day, people tend to barbeque, golf, shop and drive. Though the daylight savings time was introduced in part to save energy, in fact it encourages energy consumption more because people's favorite thing to do with their free time is driving in cars. They drive and shop and isn’t that evil?

Not really the most startling conclusion: after all haven't we already established that big oil behind everything evil. In my book, I can put up with an extra hour to golf, barbeque shop and drive in the warm glow of the sun.

1. *SEE ALSO: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S ESSAY ON DAYLIGHT SAVINGS