1972 British Columbia time plebiscite

British Columbia time referendum
Are you in favour of Pacific Standard time, including Pacific Daylight Saving time, as it is applicable now throughout the province?
Results

A referendum was held in British Columbia on August 30, 1972, simultaneously with a general election. The actual referendum only took place in four electoral districts and part of a fifth, all in the northeast or southeast parts of the province. The purpose of the vote was to determine which areas favoured following Mountain Time rather than Pacific Time and whether to follow daylight saving time or not. All areas chose to follow Mountain Time.

Lead-up

The referendum was the result of events in Alberta where, in 1971, Albertans voted to enact daylight saving time. Areas in the Peace River Country and Southeast were economically tied to Alberta, and hence were also on Mountain Time.^[1]

The question was:

Are you in favour of Pacific Standard time, including Pacific Daylight Saving time, as it is applicable now throughout the province?^[2]

Results

Only four ridings and part of a fifth took part in the referendum. The two ridings in the northeastern part of the province were North Peace River and South Peace River. The two ridings in the southeastern part were Columbia River and Kootenay. Residents of Nelson-Creston east of an imaginary line running through Kootenay Lake and the Kootenay River that bisected that riding also took part.^[2]

District	Yes	Percentage	No	Percentage	Rejected	Total
Columbia River	1366	34.95	2445	62.56	97	3908
Kootenay	4583	35.04	8123	62.11	372	13078
East part of Nelson-Creston	1900	49.39	1947	50.61	0	3847
North Peace River	1769	29.83	4079	68.77	83	5931
South Peace River	1853	27.49	4642	68.87	245	6740
Total	11471	34.24	21236	63.38	797	33504
Source:^[2]

Aftermath

The result of the referendum was Mountain Time being used instead of Pacific Time in places that rejected Pacific Time (which had been province-wide).^[2] Hence, the boundary between time zones in British Columbia ended up being different from the provincial boundary.^[3]^[4]

The northeast is on Mountain Standard Time year-round, without daylight saving time. In practice, this means that time there is identical with Alberta's in the winter and the rest of BC's in summer. The southeast is similar, with most of the applicable area on Mountain Time and following DST. The Creston area is exceptional, ignoring DST. This puts that town in a situation similar to the northeast.^[5]

Since the time referendum the issue has flared up in Creston politics at least twice. At least two referendums have been held, neither of which succeeded in changing the status quo.^[1]

In 2014 residents of Fort Nelson voted in favour of switching from Pacific Time with DST to year-round Mountain Standard Time.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b Mike Crawley (April 6, 1996). "Not everyone in B.C. will be turning clock forward tonight: The Peace River region and the Kootenay town of Creston stay on standard time all year while the rest of us go to daylight time". Vancouver Province. p. A14.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Time Plebiscite". Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986. Elections BC. Archived from the original on March 1, 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
^ "Winter Time Zones" (PDF). National Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
^ "Summer Time Zones" (PDF). National Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
^ H. David Matthews & Mary Vincent (September–October 1998). "It's About Time". Canadian Geographic. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
^ "Fort Nelson votes in favour of changing time zone - Energeticcity.ca". Energeticcity.ca. November 15, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2017.

[Crawley-1] Mike Crawley (April 6, 1996). "Not everyone in B.C. will be turning clock forward tonight: The Peace River region and the Kootenay town of Creston stay on standard time all year while the rest of us go to daylight time". Vancouver Province. p. A14.

[EBC-2] "Time Plebiscite". Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986. Elections BC. Archived from the original on March 1, 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2008.

[NRCWinter-3] "Winter Time Zones" (PDF). National Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2008.

[NRCSummer-4] "Summer Time Zones" (PDF). National Research Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2008.

[Canadian_Geographic-5] H. David Matthews & Mary Vincent (September–October 1998). "It's About Time". Canadian Geographic. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2008.

[6] "Fort Nelson votes in favour of changing time zone - Energeticcity.ca". Energeticcity.ca. November 15, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2017.

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v t e Elections and referendums in British Columbia
General elections	1856 1860 1863 1866 1869 1871 1875 1878 1882 1886 1890 1894 1898 1900 1903 1907 1909 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1952 1953 1956 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1979 1983 1986 1991 1996 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 2024
Municipal elections	2005 2008 2011 2014 2018 2022
Referendums	1873 1909 1916 1920 1924 1937 1952 1972 1991 2002 2005 2009 2011 2018
See also: List of British Columbia by-elections