Quote Originally Posted by Feanor
Gosh, if only we could count on all government decissions being made responsibly.
I may share the sentiment of this sarcastic rhetoric, but it really doesn't bring any new points to this debate. Skepticism isn't a rational argument. The fact that work was done is.

Quote Originally Posted by Feanor
This quote from from the CBC web site ...
"A 2006 report from the U.S. Department of Energy anticipated electricity savings of four-tenths of a per cent per day of extended daylight savings time, totaling three one-hundredths of a per cent of annual electricity consumption." [emphasis added]

Whoa, .003%, I guess that is a lot in multi-trillion dollar economy. But that includes southern and mid-US latitudes. I postulate that in northern latitudes the extension of DST will not save energy: show me current evidence that disproves that. (I'll be sorry I said this: what might work in northern latitudes, thanks to the longer days up here, is double DST but only for June and July). The "benefit" from the current extension, such as it may be in Canada, stems entirely from remaining synchronized with the US. This was the only justification given in Ontario's case as stated by the provincial Attorney General.

In the US, I'm given to believe, the legislation was strongly lobbied by the retail and recreation, (e.g. golf), interests but not at all by farmers or manufacturers.
Let's say I agree with all the above - I really don't know who or what to believe, except there really hasn't been much political opposition to this from the so-called green/left leaning parties other than complaining it isn't enough, so I'm inclined to believe it can't hurt.

So here's your opportunity to recruit me...what are the negatives of making the switch, other than breaking convention? A few people late to electronically organized meetings? A minor hastle for Microsoft and the airlines? That breaks my heart.

I said 2 years ago they should have picked "trial states" to collect data before diving right in, but the appearance of being greed was politically palatable, even desirable for pretty much every government involved. I'm not aware that they did this, but I apologize if I'm wrong.
Studies aside, I'm a bit annoyed this even became an issue - we're talking a net change of DST that can be measure in hours after all...But I'm a pleased someone was willing to try. Let's do this for a few years, take a look at the numbers and then evaluate.
If I'm right, we'll probably see another switch, supported by more concrete figures, if not, we can always go back.