Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
Friday, March 9, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Daylight saving time begins three weeks earlier in Canada and the U.S. this year, due to a new American energy policy.

Clocks will be set forward an hour on Sunday, March 11.

In August 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which extended daylight saving time as a way to conserve energy.

Previously, the U.S. and Canada switched to daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April, and back to standard time on the last Sunday in October. Now the U.S. and Canada will switch over on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. North America will return to standard time on Nov. 4 instead of on Oct. 28.

In the European Union, the EU equivalent of daylight saving time, called Summertime, takes effect on the last Sunday in March (March 25 this year) and reverts to standard time on the last Sunday in October (Oct. 28 this year).

Kim Robinson, a senior corporate consultant with Key West Travel, doesn't see any problem with the shift when it comes to travelling.

"I guess we'll have to see how it goes," she said. For people who travel she said that there could be some jet lag. "You pretty much go with sunlight," she said.

Newfoundland was the first place in North America to adopt daylight saving time on June 17, 1917.