We've heard the rumbles in some Canadian provinces and U.S. states to go to permanent Daylight Saving Time. There are a bunch of logistical issues with going to permanent Daylight Saving Time. Yukon is going ahead with permanent Daylight Saving Time when the clocks change early on Sunday morning in North America.
During Daylight Saving Time, Yukon will be on the same time as British Columbia (its neighbour to the south) and an hour ahead of Alaska (its neighbour to the west), same as the times are now. In the winter, Yukon will be 1 hour ahead of British Columbia (its neighbour to the south) and 2 hours ahead of Alaska. In fact, Yukon will be on the same time as the Northwest Territories, Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta, and the western parts of Nunavut in the winter.
This is distinct from Saskatchewan that remains on Central Standard Time year round.
British Columbia has put into motion the concept of permanent Daylight Saving Time contingent on similar movement in Washington, Oregon, and California, its U.S. time zone neighbours. That would put the province 2 hours behind Toronto in the winter.
Daylight Saving Time means having more sunshine in the afternoon when there is more sun. The drawback to having permanent Daylight Saving Time is very dark mornings where the sun doesn't rise for an extra hour. Getting to work and school becomes more dangerous without sunlight. Yukon doesn't get much sunlight at any time in the winter.
Daylight is a distinct point in Whitehorse (Yukon capital) at 60.72 North latitude in southern Yukon vs. Victoria (BC capital) at 48.43 North latitude.
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European summer time, as they call it, runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Most of the United States and Canada switched to Daylight Saving Time on the last Sunday in April through the last Sunday in October until 1987. The first Sunday in April was the new marker from 1987-2006. Since 2007, the second Sunday in March has been the turning point with the first Sunday in November as the point to fall back.
Yukon's population is more than the lower bowl of BC Place but less than the whole stadium in Vancouver, somewhere around 40,000. Most of those people live in Whitehorse. In an area where time might not be as crucial (Yukon and Saskatchewan), not changing clocks isn't seen as important. The more sensible thing for Yukon to do is not to observe daylight time so as to be on the same time as Alaska and an hour behind British Columbia in the summer.
Some of the anxiety of switching would be solved by moving back to a more reasonable time to move up the clocks. That could be the European standard of the final Sunday in March or a Sunday in April.
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Hockey Day in Canada 2020 took us north into the Canadian territories. The home base was in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories though we did get to visit Whitehorse, Yukon.
If you did win the trip to the north and picked Whitehorse, going in the summer wouldn't change the time difference. You would only see the difference if you stayed in the winter. You might have to make yourself get up in the winter given how dark the sky would be.
photo credit: Google maps
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