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When Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew declared Sept. 17 that the province would remain on permanent daylight time, he suggested it was a historical moment people would share with their “great-great-grandkids.” But, while Sunday, Nov. 1 has been heralded as the date many Canadians will stop changing their clocks, there are rumblings behind the scenes suggesting this will actually cause more trouble than ever before.

There are, of course, the warnings from chrono-biologists and sleep scientists about the damage permanent daylight time will do. The lighter evenings will mean many more dark mornings. But there is another set of problems in the offing in the critical infrastructure that underpins our digital lives.

While it used to be common to spend the Sunday morning after a time change going around our homes updating the clocks, we now wake up to devices that have already adjusted to the new time. These automatic updates occur regularly for daylight time, as well as when we travel to new time zones.

Our clocks are able to change by themselves owing to the hard work of a group of volunteers who were recently named in a list of the people who hold up the internet. This group, led by Paul Eggert, a computer scientist at UCLA, maintains a little-known tool called the Time Zone Database. Since the 1980s, it has kept track of regional, national and international debates about clock time and provided an up-to-date table of what time it should be on our walls.

Embarrassed by turnout

I am ashamed by the poor turnout of voters in the recent municipal election in Winnipeg. Just 38 per cent of eligible voters is a disgrace to the thousands of men and women who gave their lives in past wars, where they were defending democracy and the right to vote.

My grandfather was an infantry soldier in the First World War, and my father-in-law flew in Avro Lancasters in the Second World War. For both I am grateful.

Maybe the 62 per cent that had a flimsy excuse for not voting will keep this mind for the next election. People died for our right to vote.

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