Once again there has been some discussion regarding the Newfoundland time zone. Seems this subject comes up when some media people want something to stir up a controversy in order to get more viewers.
Our time zone is just fine, in spite of a couple of minor irritations, mainly dealing with TV scheduling or businesses having to wait a half hour extra for someone to be at their desk in Halifax.
The main advantage is that we have an extra half hour of daylight, which in our very short summers is a real bonus.
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As an example, today May 24, sunset in Halifax is 8:45 pm Atlantic time. St. John’s is 8:42 Newfoundland Time.
If Newfoundland was on Atlantic Time, our sunset would be 8:12 pm!
Any location at the far eastern edge of any time zone will have an earlier sunrise and sunset than its western edge.
If we look at the sunset time in corner Brook, today it is 9:08 pm, because they are almost at the far western edge of the Newfoundland time zone. If they were on Atlantic time, their sunset today would be 8:38 pm.
Another example is Woodstock, N.B., which is almost as far west as you can get in that province, Sunset today is 9:07pm Atlantic time. Note the difference from Halifax (Atlantic time),
and the time in Corner Brook (Newfoundland Time).
So, if we want to keep our extra half hour of daylight in the evening, we should keep the time zone as is.
Kenneth LeGrow
Manuels
