On 2026-03-06 12:47, Robert Bastian wrote:
CLDR tries to match common usage, and common
usage of "Mountain Standard Time" for UTC-7 in BC has just not been
demonstrated.
I assume you meant "in America/Vancouver" not "in BC", as "Mountain
Standard Time" has long been common usage in some parts of eastern BC.
Unfortunately if we wait for common usage to be demonstrated for the
Vancouver area we'll have to wait for months, and for reasons I hope are
obvious we shouldn't do that - certainly not until November.
We have a law and a press release from the BC Attorney General's office
saying "Pacific Time". So my guess is that CLDR will go with "Pacific
Time" for now, and then change later if a different name evolves. Of
course these details are up to CLDR.
How about this idea?
1. CLDR puts out a new version or patch today that outputs the name
"Pacific Time" for America/Vancouver timestamps starting March 9,
regardless of whether the tm_isdst flag is 1 or 0 for those timestamps.
The idea is that this new CLDR version will work for America/Vancouver
regardless of whether the associated TZDB version is 2026a or 2026b. The
spelling of the string "Pacific Time" is entirely up to you; if you
prefer "Pacific Daylight Time" then by all means use that.
2. TZDB puts out a release 2026b today that changes tm_isdst to 0.
3. Downstream users are advised to update CLDR if they update TZDB.
Would that work for you? Quite possibly the "today" is a bit fast but
the point is that we should not wait for months to get going on this.
The ship is sailing Monday, not in November. Putting things off is not a
good strategy.
I'm also interested in which legislation you saw that says this change to
"Pacific Time" happens at midnight on Monday?
The name "Pacific Time" is specified by the Interpretation Amendment
Act, 2019, SBC 2019, c 41 <https://canlii.ca/t/55ht0>. That act comes
into force on Monday, March 9 by BC Order In Council 36/2026
<https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/oic/oic_cur/0063_2026>.
The OIC does not specify time of day, which means it comes into force at
the start of the day; see
<https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/consol15/consol15/00_96238_01#section4>.
