Village of Pouce Coupe gets opinions from PRRD members about moving to Alberta time

POUCE COUPE, B.C. — The mayor of Pouce Coupe wanted to gather options and reactions from members of the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) on the region moving to the Alberta time zone. 

Following a letter from Pouce Coupe’s mayor, Danielle Veach, PRRD members reviewed the request during the regional board meeting on June 25th.

Veach said that, due to Pouce Coupe’s proximity to Alberta and shared employees, the village’s council wanted to reach out to the PRRD to see if there was any interest in moving to Alberta time, as other communities along the border have done.

According to the province, people in southeastern B.C., specifically the East Kootenay and Golden region, currently switch between mountain standard time and mountain daylight time, in line with Alberta. 

Cities like Golden, Cranbrook, Fernie, Sparwood, Invermere, Kimberley, Radium Hot Springs and Elkford will remain aligned with Alberta and will continue to switch in winter and the summer. 

“I really just wanted to kind of bring it forward for discussion, see if that was something that this table would be interested in doing moving forward,” she added. 

This comes after a March 2nd press release stating that the province will scrap seasonal time changes, which will take effect in the fall. 

Northeast B.C. operates on Mountain Standard Time, and the press release said that areas such as Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson will not be affected by the time change. 

According to the Government of Alberta, the province has permanently adopted Alberta Time, formerly known as Mountain Daylight Time. 

Fort St. John councillor, Trevor Bolin, said: “I like the idea. I think it’s very relevant to a vote that happened here in the 1960s, in order to be the same time as Alberta.” 

“Our tie in is not to southern British Columbia, our tie is to our partners and our neighbours in Alberta.” 

Dan Rose, the director for electoral area E, said he agrees with being “more in line with Alberta,” but he would like an exercise to gauge opinions. 

“People don’t like change, so we need to know they’ve been heard or we’ve heard before we do that,” he noted. 

Veach noted that every male member in her family may live in Dawson Creek and Pouce Coupe, but every single one of them works in Alberta. 

“I do get it’s not great when we all admit many of our oil and gas people work across border and then bring it in, but that’s literally the reality,” she added. “There is more oil and gas happening in Alberta than there is in British Columbia.” 

She noted that a lot of head offices have moved to Alberta, and the oil and gas workers are crossing borders. 

She said: “It does make sense for us to be more in line with our Alberta neighbours, which we do on quite a few things, than it does to be in line with our southern neighbours.” 

Hudson’s Hope’s mayor, Travous Quibell, agrees with getting people’s opinions. 

“Who’s gonna notify Victoria that they need to broaden their working hours so they are able actually to meet our needs?” he asked. 

“It’s hard enough to get in touch with our regulators in Vancouver and Alberta when we need to get business done from up here, when they close at four o’clock.” 

He believes it will be impossible to do business if the region is an hour away.  

Shawn Dahlen, the chief administrative officer of the PRRD, said there are a couple of options, including a survey, which will cost $3,000 to $4,000 to mail, and that they will discuss them further at a committee of the whole meeting. 

A report on the consideration of a permanent time alignment with Mountain Daylight Time will be brought forward at a future committee of the whole meeting.