Nunavut time zone change attracts mixed reviews

MICHAELA RODRIGUE
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Time may be money but Nunavut’s businesses can only wait and see if a time zone change will hit their bottom line.

The territorial government’s move to switch all of Nunavut into one time zone has attracted mixed reviews from the people who will be most affected.

The government of Nunavut has told the federal government it wants to convert Nunavut’s three time zones into one single time zone.

If the plan goes through unchanged, the Baffin region would move back one hour while the Kitikmeot would move forward one hour. The time zone in the Keewatin would remain unchanged.

The government says the move to a single time zone — and uniform office hours for government workers — will make it easier to run the bureaucracy.

“We’re decentralizing and people will be counting on services throughout our territory. It’s very difficult right now to have an effective working relationship with other residents of Nunavut,” said Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik.

Some residents have raised concerns about the lack of sunlight communities in the Baffin region will have during the winter. But Okalik says it’s a small price to pay.

“It’s a one hour difference. It’s a minor compromise for the benefit of all our residents and territory,” he said.

The change may make the business of government easier to run, but the jury is still out on how it will affect the private sector.

‘All of our supplies come from the time zone we’re in now. It just adds to our ability to talk to our suppliers when we want to,” said Murray Watt, manager of Kitikmeot Supplies Ltd. in Cambridge Bay.

A time change would be inconvenient and could increase costs, Watt said.

The Royal Bank in Iqaluit doesn’t expect a hit to its balance sheet but manager Louis Courtemanche said personally he doesn’t want the change to go forward.

“The premier of Canada has to deal with five and a half hours of time zones, and he will not change that because it will be convenient for him. I think we should adopt the same policy,” Courtemanche said.

The Royal Bank deals with its counterparts in Winnipeg and Montreal. A time zone change would actually bring it closer to Winnipeg, but Courtemanche isn’t looking forward to the change.

“Everywhere in the world people need to know in Nunavut it’s different… it’s not in line with the rest of Canada,” he said.

Iqaluit’s Internet service provider Nunanet Worldwide Communications doesn’t expect any disruption from the time zone change, said manager Marcel Mason.

“The Internet’s one of those things that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I just sort of goes,” Mason said.

And one Kitikmeot business person said he believes the one-hour difference should in some cases benefit his business.

Cambridge Bay-based Natik Plumbing and Heating Ltd. orders supplies from Yellowknife, Edmonton and Ontario. The move ahead by one will bring it closer to its Ontario suppliers, said manager Anthony Barney.

Barney doesn’t expect the change will cause problems with their western suppliers.

“They’d definitely get our orders in advance. If we send them at 8 a.m. it’s only 7 a.m. down there,” Barney said.

An Iqaluit business person on the other side of Nunavut agrees that having all of Nunavut in one time zone may be more convenient.

“The greater number of clients you have that are on the same time zone the easier it is to do business,” said Clive Clark, an architect with Ferguson Simek Clark.

“Generally I’m positive about it,” Clark said.

The Nunavut government has notified the federal government it wants to change the time zones. Nunavut can change its time zones unilaterally through proclamation, but the federal government must amend some regulations.