It’s about time. The whole country has joined Saskatchewan on Standard Time, for the time being. Now when I call my folks in Victoria I have to remember they are two hours behind me. Calgary and Edmonton are no longer on the same time as us but Winnipeg is and Toronto is only one hour ahead rather than two. Two thirds of the world’s countries don’t observe Daylight Saving Time including most of Asia and Africa. 20% of the world’s population uses it including most of Europe and, of course, North America. There seems to be a movement growing with people who are asking whether DST is necessary anywhere anymore or if it’s just a 20th century anachronism and something that is conspicuously old-fashioned. Some say transitions into and out of DST increase nighttime restlessness and decrease the quality of sleep. They also say disrupted sleep causes depression and suicide rates rise in the weeks following the time shift although I haven’t fact-checked that. The idea of DST was first introduced in New Zealand in 1895 by a fellow named George Vernon Hudson, a British-born New Zealand entomologist and astronomer. Is it about time DST was dropped? We’d have to ask people who don’t live in this province. Or maybe they should ask us how we get along without changing time.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.