Daylight saving time: Here’s when B.C. ‘springs forward’ & gets later sunsets

With the snow only just melted away in Vancouver, the countdown to spring is on. And nothing sets the pace for the season ahead like ‘springing forward’ and gaining that coveted extra hour of daylight! Believe it or not, daylight saving time (DST) starts back up in two weeks’ time, so get ready to change your clocks yet again.

What is daylight saving time?

According to Time and Date, the practice of ‘springing forward’ and ‘falling back’ in Canada dates back to 1908, when it was first used in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

“Moving the clocks forward one hour in the spring grants us more daylight during summer evenings, while moving clocks back one hour in the fall grants us more daylight during winter mornings,” says the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Since 1987, the official time zones and DST have been regulated by the provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, with the exception of Yukon, the majority of Saskatchewan, and some locations in Quebec, northwest Ontario, and northeast B.C.

While most of North America follows DST, around 78 percent of the world does not, according to the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce in a report calling for Permanent Daylight Saving Time in B.C.

Move to permanent daylight saving time

After a record number of residents responded in favour of moving to permanent daylight saving time in 2019, B.C. made strides to scrap the practice altogether. However, DST will only be eliminated if the U.S. states of California, Washington, and Oregon are on board.

Last March, Oregon came close to passing a bill that would make DST permanent, but only if California and Washington made the same change within the next decade. While it narrowly passed in the Oregon Senate, it ultimately failed to become law – as did the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023.

When does daylight saving time start in 2025?

This year, daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 9, 2025, meaning that our clocks will ‘spring forward’ to 3 a.m. on this date.

The good news is that we’ll get one more hour of daylight in the evening, and the sun will begin to set later as we approach the warmer months.

In Vancouver, this means that sunset will jump from 6:07 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, 2025, to 7:08 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, 2025, based on the current sunset time.

Enjoy the later sunsets, B.C.!

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