Of course "Pacific Standard Time" (not to be confused with anybody's local definition of "Pacific Time") will remain entrenched in the Federal interpretation act as being GMT-8.... just like "Yukon Standard Time" continues to be entrenched in the Federal interpretation as being GMT-9. From https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-21/:
standard time, except as otherwise provided by any proclamation of the Governor in Council that may be issued for the purposes of this definition in relation to any province or territory or any part thereof, means ... (f) in relation to the Province of British Columbia, Pacific standard time, being eight hours behind Greenwich time, and (g) in relation to Yukon, Yukon standard time, being nine hours behind Greenwich time; (heure normale)
-chris On Mon, Mar 2, 2026 at 4:41 PM Tim Parenti via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote:
CBC, CTV, and Global are reporting the same:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-adopting-year-round-dayl...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/bc-moving-to-permanent-daylight-tim...
https://globalnews.ca/news/11713160/bc-david-eby-niki-sharma-announcement-ti...
Video of the press conference, held at ~12:30 local (UTC−8) Monday by BC Premier David Eby, is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upEasdN8tVE
It appears this action represents the activation/enforcement of a 2019 "Interpretation Amendment Act", so it seems the press release from the BC Attorney General may be all the official documentation we'll have to go on for a while. It simply says "Regulation will bring the amendments into effect after Sunday, March 8, 2026." As Winfield, BC's *Lake Country Calendar* reports it, the 2019 bill "allows the changes to be implemented without any further legislation either way, and the government has opted to stop waiting."
https://lakecountrycalendar.com/2026/03/02/eby-announces-permanent-move-to-d...
Confusingly, per CBC, "B.C.'s new time zone will be called 'Pacific Time,' according to the province." By contrast, we already have a longstanding practice of using "MST" in our data for yearround UTC−7 in Yukon as well as for border regions such as America/Dawson_Creek and America/Fort_Nelson. So, although there has already been some breakdown in nomenclature from legacy zones like PST8PDT, that is now brought to a more populous province of ~5.7 million. (For what it's worth, CBC News has been recently using "YST" for Yukon time in their online simulcasts to YouTube.)
The press release points to "[r]ecent actions from the U.S. hav[ing] shifted how B.C. approaches decisions that merit alignment, including on time zones", so the difference in nomenclature between this new "Canadian Pacific Time" and "US Pacific Time" — while likely to cause cross-border confusion next winter — is likely an intentional part of "the province's broader plans to move away from interdependence with the U.S." Although the press release correctly points out that "[n]eighbour jurisdictions like Washington, Oregon and California are all in the process of creating or enacting similar legislation", it does not mention that a similar shift to yearround UTC−7 for those states would be dependent on action from either the US Congress or Department of Transportation.
-- Tim Parenti
On Mon, 2 Mar 2026 at 15:59, Arthur Olson via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote:
B. C. Gov News: "Adopting permanent daylight saving time: ‘Spring forward’ on March 8 will be the last time change, ending twice-yearly clock changes."
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2026AG0013-000209
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