Lesson 19 — Activity 1: Why Have Time Zones?



Getting Ready


In this lesson, you will learn how time zones came to be and who created them. You will learn how to use them to figure out different times around the world and how they are used in everyday life.      

   
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Think about This:

If you have ever watched a television show from British Columbia or one from Ontario, you know that there are different time zones within Canada. This is because the time that they tell you the program will be on is different from the time you will watch it in Alberta.

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Before learning about time zones, think about these examples:


Imagine if you will, 12 p.m. in Kingston, Ontario, being exactly 12 minutes later than 12 p.m. in Montreal, Quebec, and 13 minutes earlier than 12 p.m. in Toronto, Ontario.

In a very small area , you have three different 12 p.m.'s spread over 25 minutes of time! This is the way it actually was before the invention of standard time. Standard time is the system of time we use today. It was like this in the past because noon was calculated as the time the sun was EXACTLY overhead. This just didn't occur in Canada, but around the entire world!




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Can you imagine trying to work in Alberta if noon in Lloydminster was 12 minutes earlier than it was in Edmonton and 20 minutes earlier than it was in Jasper? How about phoning for that part you need? You would have to figure out just what time it was only a few hundred kilometres away because it wouldn't be the same time as you were working on.

It might be 4:45 p.m. where you are working. You know the company is open until 5 p.m. When you call, they are already closed because their clock is set differently than yours! Life, as we know it, would not be the same!



 

Thankfully, a Canadian man by the name of Sandford Fleming came up with the idea of a universal system of standard time that would work all around the world. He was an engineer that worked on building the Canadian Pacific Railroad. He knew that the system of time being used as it was then would make running the transcontinental railroad impossible.

Fleming created a world map that was divided into 24 time zones. Clocks in each time zone would indicate the same time, with a one hour difference between adjoining zones.

There was a lot of resistance to his idea. It took him many years but eventually he won official approval at the International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C., and standard time went into effect on January 1, 1885.



Let's look at a map of Canadian time zones.



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As you can see, there are six time zones across the country. And as you can see by the title, the times that you see here are for the winter, when daylight savings time is not in effect. When it is 11:56 p.m. in Nova Scotia (AST), it is 7:56 p.m. in British Columbia (PST).

As you move from east to west through the time zones, you subtract one hour per time zone. Regina (CST) is one time zone west of Toronto (EST). If it is 4 a.m. in Toronto, it must be 3 a.m. in Regina. If you move from west to east, do the opposite. For every time zone you move east, add one hour.

Find Newfoundland (NST) on the map. It is shown in purple. Notice that it is in a separate time zone, but it is only a half hour different from the rest of Atlantic Canada (AST). This is the only place that this occurs in Canada.




  Self-check!

Try This!

Try this activity to practice converting time zones in Canada.


 Click here to see the time zone map of Canada. You may wish to print/save it to use it in this activity and future activities. Note that this is for time zones occurring in the winter.


Calculate the time in Edmonton, Alberta if it is 5:30 a.m. in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Edmonton is 3 and half hours behind the time of St. John's.

Therefore, it would 2:00 a.m. in Edmonton, AB.


Calculate the time in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories if it is 4:45 p.m. in Edmonton, Alberta.

Yellowknife and and Edmonton are located in the same time zone.

Therefore, it would be 4:45 p.m. in Yellowknife, NWT.


Calculate the time in Montréal, Quebec if it is 7:15 a.m. in Victoria, BC.

Montréal is 3 hours ahead of time, compared to Victoria.

Therefore, it would be 10:15 a.m. in Montréal, QB.


Calculate the time in Winnipeg, Manitoba if it is 11:00 p.m. in Edmonton, Alberta.

Winnipeg is 1 hour ahead of time, compared to Edmonton.

Therefore, it would be 12:00 a.m. (midnight) in Winnipeg, MB.


Calculate the time in Victoria, BC if it is 1:00 a.m. in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Victoria is 4 hours behind the time of Halifax.

Therefore, it would 9:00 p.m. in Victoria, BC (of the previous day).


Calculate the time in Regina, Saskatchewan if it is 6:00 p.m. in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In the winter time zone specifically, Regina and Winnipeg are in the same time zone.

Therefore, it would be 6:00 p.m. in Regina, SK.

(However, in the summer Saskatchewan would be 1 hour behind the time in Manitoba, and instead would be in the same time zone as Alberta. This is because Saskatchewan does not have daylight savings time).



 

Digging Deeper

Click on the Play button to watch a video regarding Sanford Fleming's invention of standard time.