Starting today, Manitobans won’t have to change their clocks, gain or lose an hour of sleep. Unlike previous years, Manitoba kept its Central Daylight Time on the first Sunday of November, instead of rolling the clock back one hour to Central Standard Time. In a media release on Oct. 31, the province said the permanent daylight saving time will be known as Manitoba Standard Time (MBT) as of Sunday. With the introduction of MBT, the province no longer has a time difference with some other major East Coast cities, such as Toronto, Montreal, and New York City. While the Ontario government decided to keep daylight time in its northwestern area – like Kenora – other areas of that province will continue to change clocks until its neighbouring provinces also agree to stop the change. The one-hour time difference will return when the cities switch back to Eastern Daylight Time on the second Sunday in March. While most internet-connected devices should adjust to the new time zone automatically, some devices and systems may already have adjusted to standard time and now need updated time zone information or manual adjustment. The province’s permanent daylight saving time decision was announced on Sept. 17, following a May survey that found 92 per cent of respondents wanted to end the seasonal time change and 58 per cent preferred to keep daylight saving time. Victoria Gwendoline did not participate in the survey but says she supports the decision. “Every time there’s a time change, everyone’s annoyed. It’s always like ‘oh my god, I’m extra tired’ or ‘I didn’t get as much sleep,’” Gwendoline told CTV News at the Forks on Sunday. “It takes a week or two for everybody to readjust their bodies and their sleeping schedules and everything, and it’s just a big hassle for everyone.” The province recommends individuals check their appointments and calendar events, “particularly recurring meetings and meetings organized by someone outside Manitoba.” For businesses and organizations, they recommend checking business-critical systems first. More information is available on the Government of Manitoba’s time change webpage. With files from CTV News’ Zachary Kitchen and Danton Unger, and CP24’s Bryann Aguilar
