Though it has been handy to have some pre-1970 data within the tz database, I don't see that it is the best solution for historical tz data in the long run. It is clear that that going back far enough in time there is a different LMT for every 15 seconds of latitude. My own preference would be that historical (and perhaps all tz data) be given a numberic identifier, not a 'America/Someplace' name, for the populated areas in question. A good source of geographic identifiers already available is the geonames database. The tz data for Montreal could be identified by the geonames number for Montreal, and the tz data for Toronto associated with the geoname number for Toronto. Then, to build regions, since all geonames records already have a field for the tz region, these could reflect the numeric identifier of the tz recommended region for each location. For example, Ottawa, in the geonames database would refer to the numeric identifier of Toronto instead of 'America/Toronto', until sometime decides to add historical data for Ottawa's own tz history, at which point it would adopt the identifier for Ottawa.