survey

Quebec launches survey on time change

Cynthia Dow, LJI Journalist

CASCAPEDIA-SAINT-JULES – On October 22, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced that a public consultation will take place until December 1 on whether or not Quebecers wish to change the time in the spring and fall. 

It has been the custom for many decades to change from Eastern Standard Time (EST) to Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the spring and then to revert to EST in the fall. There has been growing controversy about the time change in recent years. 

Studies have shown that the number of automobile accidents and strokes actually increase when the time is changed. Université de Montréal professor Roger Godbout, quoted in the Montreal Gazette, said that the time change…“causes negative impacts on the mental health and physical health of Canadians, so we should stop it.” 

The Harvard Medical School health website concurs. “Research suggests that changing our clocks twice a year can have various health consequences. Of the two, springing ahead one hour tends to be more disruptive. That hour change can upset our circadian rhythms, the body’s natural 24-hour cycles regulating key functions like appetite, mood, and sleep.” 

Professor Godbout has suggested that Quebec should adopt standard time (which we follow in the winter months) throughout the year. The survey the Quebec government has placed on its website allows members of the public to choose which they would rather follow all year long: standard time or daylight saving. 

At this time of year, the first Sunday in November, we switch to Eastern Standard Time, which helps to ensure that the sun rises a bit earlier in our day. At the winter solstice (December 21) as measured at the Town of Gaspé, the sun rises at 7:08 a.m. and sets at 3:23 p.m. If we stayed on Daylight Saving time, the sunrise in Gaspé would be at 8:08 a.m., setting at 4:23 p.m. 

It’s on the second Sunday in March that clocks are moved forward to Daylight Saving Time. This means that during the summer we can enjoy more sunlight in the evening hours than in the early morning. At the summer solstice (June 21) as measured at the Town of Gaspé, the sun rises at 4:14 a.m. and sets at 8:25 p.m. If we stayed on Eastern Standard Time all year, the sun would rise at 3:14 a.m. and would set at 7:25 p.m. 

The government website notes that the Magdalen Islands and the community of Listuguj follow Atlantic Standard Time and Atlantic Daylight Time. 

For many years, the entire Gaspé Peninsula was in the Atlantic time zone, but the Quebec government changed it to the Eastern time zone sometime in the 1960s so that the entire province would be following the same clock. When we were in the Atlantic time zone, it meant a good four hours a day out of sync with government offices and businesses in the rest of the province (opening hours, noon, closing hours). 

However, many see our inclusion in the Eastern time zone as an aberration, since it puts the Gaspé in the same time zone as cities as far west as Thunder Bay. 

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Survey to create ‘market study’ of housing needs

‘Things will start moving’

MRC housing director says

Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter

The MRC Pontiac is collecting new data on housing needs in the region by way of a public survey that seeks input from homeowners and renters alike.
“We all know that there is a huge housing crisis in Canada, particularly in Quebec. The Pontiac is touched by this crisis,” said Rachel Floar-Sandé, MRC Pontiac’s economic development officer for housing.
“It’s hindering economic development,” she added. “Businesses are having a hard time hiring because of the lack of housing.”

Floar-Sandé said the survey, which closes Feb. 29, will be used to create an updated profile of the state of housing in the Pontiac, likened to a market study, to help local governments and developers better understand the needs and the holes in the market.
“There is land available and there are developers that are potentially interested in building. There are projects that are underway and upcoming,” Floar-Sandé said.

“What we’re waiting on now is for the funding to come through, streamed from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) […] We have heard that the government is going to be giving money to help with the construction of affordable housing.”
Floar-Sandé said the region’s greatest needs include affordable housing for families and seniors, more housing for vulnerable people with nowhere to stay, and housing for professionals.
According to a 2021 report from the Pontiac Community Development Corporation, “Single people of all ages and single-parent families are those households most in need of safe and affordable housing. However, there are few options available to them . . . There is insufficient rental housing for the low-income population, as well as for people who wish to settle in the MRC.”

Tyler Ladouceur is the director of AuntonHomme Pontiac, a social service organization based in Campbell’s Bay that provides Pontiac residents, particularly men, with mental health support and temporary housing.
“Except for elderly people, there’s not really anything in the Pontiac right now in terms of apartment buildings for lower-income housing,” he said. “That is a big problem.”
A big part of Ladouceur’s work involves helping the people living in AutonHomme’s temporary housing facilities find more permanent affordable housing, but the lack of low-income housing makes this difficult.
Ladouceur said the organization will sometimes place people in “lesser quality apartments”, ask that they return to couchsurfing with friends, or simply keep them housed in AutonHomme’s temporary facilities for extended periods of time, but that none of these options are good for the people who arrive at the organization looking for help, who are often unhoused and struggling with some form of mental illness or living with addictions.

“It’s kind of a vicious circle we’re stuck in,” Ladouceur said. “If we can’t find a place, sadly some clients go back into the same situations they were before because they’re sick of being in our services, or they get disappointed because they’ve done all that work and can’t progress to the next step.”
Ladouceur typically works with single people looking for housing, but said that since last fall, he has seen an increasing number of families without an affordable place to live.
“Obviously if [the MRC] could find more money that would be amazing, but it’s also a question of getting a lot of actors together,” Ladouceur said, adding he believes there is potential in creating partnerships with the private sector.

A big part of Floar-Sandé’s work as economic development officer for housing is looking for available land in the MRC, and liaising with municipalities about land that might be available for development.
“I find municipalities and land owners are very open to wanting housing development in their municipalities,” she said.
“We have a crisis. It’s not just the Pontiac, and it needs to be dealt with. I do believe that things will start moving.”
The survey can be found on MRC Pontiac’s website, under the ‘Public Consultation’ tab at the top left of the home page.

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