Cornwall man starts petition to ditch time change

An Island man has started a petition to stop moving the clocks and instead stick to daylight time throughout the year.

Corey Frizzell put the petition online Monday morning in the hopes that it would garner enough support that he could eventually present it to the provincial government.

I think most people think it's a crazy thing that we switch the clocks and I think if P.E.I. showed some initiative, showed some leadership, the other jurisdictions may follow.- Corey Frizzell

Frizzell said he did some research on Sunday about getting the process going, but his experience Monday morning pushed him to get the petition up.

"I get up this morning, and I was that tired. I said, 'Somebody's gotta do something about this time change stuff' ... You hear from people every time the time change happens, people always say, 'Why are we doing this anymore?'" he said.

"I have two young kids, they were pretty jet lagged getting up this morning. That Monday after the time change, it hits little kids pretty hard."

Winter light

Frizzell said making a switch to year-round daylight time would give more light to sun-starved Islanders during the winter months.

"I think we could all use that in late December and throughout the winter," he said.

"You're going to give up an hour of sunlight in the morning, but you'd get it back in the evening."

He said some jurisdictions choose to stay in standard time year-round, while others think the switch to daylight time is the problem, but Frizzell points out that the majority of the year is spent in daylight time anyway.

Possible problems

Frizzell conceded there could be some issues with the switch if P.E.I. were to stop changing the clocks without the rest of Atlantic Canada following suit.

"If you were travelling off the bridge and stuff and commuting back and forth, there would be some issues," he said.

He's hoping that if the Island adopted daylight time throughout the year, other places may look at it as a possibility.

"I think most people think it's a crazy thing that we switch the clocks and I think if P.E.I. showed some initiative, showed some leadership, the other jurisdictions may follow," he said.

"If enough people want it to happen, we can make it happen … it's up to us."

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