No DST vote, Sask. decides

The Saskatchewan governmenthas decidednot to hold a province-wide vote on whether to change the clocks each spring and fall.

Areferendum on daylight saving timeis somethingSaskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall promised to do if he won the2007 election.

But now, the government says aprovince-wide voteis not necessary.

According to arecent government poll, 66 per cent of Saskatchewan residents oppose switching to DST, while 27 per cent are in favour. Seven per cent had no opinion.

Saskatchewan is the only province that doesn't move todaylight time in the spring.

As a result, the province's clocks match the time in Manitoba for part of the year and Alberta for the remainder of the year.

Darryl Hickie, the minister responsible for the daylight time issue, said two polls the government's and an earlier one commissioned by the Leader-Post newspaper show most Saskatchewan people do not want change.

"The people of the province have spoken," Hickie said.

He conceded that a poll is not the same thing as a referendum, but insisted the 2007 campaign promise has essentially been kept.

Adding the DST question to the ballot in the November general election would have cost an extra $100,000, while educating people about the pros and cons of the issue would cost an additional $400,000, the government said.

The province-wide poll of 1,012 Saskatchewan residents was conducted by Fast Consulting between Jan. 10 and Jan. 24. It has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The rest of Canada moves todaylight timeon Sunday.