Municipal Affairs Minister Darryl Hickie has announced the government will not hold a referendum on Daylight Saving Time (DST) in conjunction with the next provincial election.
Hickie said recent polling shows there is overwhelming support for keeping Saskatchewan's unique time system as is. Saskatchewan is the only province that does not switch to DST in the spring.
A recent poll commissioned by the government showed that 66 per cent of Saskatchewan residents oppose switching to DST while just 27 per cent would support the move. Seven per cent of respondents did not express an opinion.
A large majority of respondents - 56 per cent - said they "strongly oppose" Saskatchewan switching to DST.
The province-wide poll of 1,012 Saskatchewan residents was conducted by Fast Consulting between January 10 and January 24, 2011 and has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs paid $2,500 for the poll and reporting.
The government poll results are similar to another recent poll conducted for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix by Sigma Analytics between November 30 and December 7, 2010.
That poll showed that 60.6 per cent of Saskatchewan residents oppose DST while just 25.6 per cent support it. It also showed that a majority of residents - 52.4 per cent - disapprove strongly with switching to DST.
That province-wide poll of 612 Saskatchewan residents has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.96 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
"As a result of these two separate polls showing strong support for keeping our time system just the way it is, the government has decided there is no need to go through the effort and expense of conducting a referendum on this issue," Hickie said. "Both polls show more than 60 per cent of people opposed to Daylight Saving Time, and a majority in each poll say they are 'strongly opposed'."
