PRRD board discussed the Peace River alignment with the Alberta time zone

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — One member of the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) thinks the Peace River region should align itself with the Alberta time zone 

At the July 23 PRRD Committee of the Whole meeting, staff presented a report for the consideration of permanent time alignment with Mountain Daylight Time for discussion. 

This comes after Pouce Coupe’s mayor, Danielle Veach, shared a letter with the board at the June 25 meeting, seeking opinions and reactions on the region moving to the Alberta time zone. 

On March 2, a press release said the province will scrap seasonal time changes, which will take effect in the fall. 

Before the provincial announcement, northeast B.C. observed Mountain Standard Time year-round, meaning while the rest of the province observed Daylight Saving Time, the local timezone stayed the same. This is because of a 1973-74 referendum with a confusing question intended to make things easier for the oil patch industry at the time. 

The press release said northeast B.C. operates on mountain standard time and areas such as Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson will not be affected by the time change. 

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

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

During the June 25 meeting, Veach said it “makes sense” for the region to align with Alberta, given that many head offices have moved there and more oil and gas activity is happening in Alberta than in British Columbia. 

The report said this meeting was scheduled to facilitate a discussion of the idea that the Peace River align itself with the Alberta time zone (Mountain Daylight Time) rather than B.C.’s time zone (Pacific Daylight Time). 

At the moment, the PRRD observes Mountain Standard Time, which aligns with Pacific Daylight Time during the summer. If a region-wide referendum supports the idea, the PRRD will align with the remainder of the province year-round. 

Starting Nov. 1, 2026, the province’s new time zone will be Pacific Time (PT), and clocks will not fall back later this year. 

The report said staff requested information from the IT department on the operational implications of a permanent time alignment that differs from the region’s current time. 

In addition, PRRD staff contacted the Northern Rockies Municipality to see whether it was considering a similar initiative. 

The IT department said that implementing a permanent time alignment will need a detailed review of the PRRD’s technology infrastructure, system assessments, testing and reconfiguration to ensure continued functionality. 

These systems can include network infrastructure, firewalls, UPS devices, camera systems, water station equipment, cloud-based services and payroll systems. 

The report added that many external organizations and service providers rely on a synchronized system time, and implementation would require coordination with them. 

There would also be a significant investment of staff time in reviewing, testing and validating the systems. 

The Northern Rockies Municipality said they have discussed the topic internally. Still, no change has been implemented, and they are not aware of any current movement toward adopting a different time zone. 

Fort St. John Mayor Lilia Hansen said she is not in favour of it. 

“We just changed in B.C. to be consistent throughout British Columbia and at this time, that is a big change. Let’s work with this and see how this is,” she explained. 

Dan Rose, director of Area E, suggested the board ask the people who will be affected by this time alignment. 

He said, “I’d love to hear from the Chamber of Commerce or other business organizations that actually do most of their business with and may have parent company offices in Grande Prairie.” 

“Having worked in the resource industry for a good portion of my life, when we are at odds with time with the Alberta side, what happens is the employees on this side have to adjust their schedules to meet what’s happening on the other side and it’s not optional.” 

Rose believes it is not the board’s responsibility to make decisions without input from the people. 

Jeff Garrison, director for Area C, said he is not sure why this discussion is happening. 

“I see that there are a lot of places [throughout] the U.S. and Canada that are actually talking about getting rid of daylight saving time altogether,” Garrison said. 

“I’m one of those people [who] says if it ain’t broke, why [are] we fixing it and if the rest of the area is looking at doing the same, then I think this is a waste of time.” 

Reid Graham, director for Area B, said he is a “little stuck” on which way is better. 

He said, “Working in the oil and gas industry, my whole career, I personally deal with the challenges of being on the wrong time zone from them because everything comes out of Alberta for everything resource-related in our region.” 

Graham believes there should be a survey of people across all industries to gauge their opinions. 

Following the discussion, the board decided not to move the topic forward to a future meeting. As this was brought up during the committee of the whole meeting, no legislative decision was made.