On Thu, 3 Sept 2026 at 20:56, Tim Parenti <[email protected]> wrote:
> FWIW, public reaction on the [Town of Golden]'s Facebook post announcing > its decision is… mixed, at best, with over 440 comments at time of writing: > > https://www.facebook.com/townofgolden/posts/keeping-time-with-bc-at-last-nights-regular-open-council-meeting-town-council-de/1480037904156921/ > A Town of Golden Facebook post for an unrelated survey posted later the same day was met with a fair number of sarcastic comments, as was a recent post advertising the nomination period for Mayor and Council ahead of next month's local elections. The Columbia Shuswap Regional District's updated agenda for today's board meeting included a late update that CSRD Electoral Area A "Director [Karen] Cathcart received 113 pieces of correspondence: 16 in favour of BC/MST; 92 in opposition; 5 neutral comments" and reported that "[f]eedback received is highly divided with strong arguments both for remaining aligned with Alberta/East Kootenays and for aligning with the rest of BC." > Looking ahead, Columbia Shuswap Regional District now has posted its board > agenda for next Thursday, 10 September, and Time Observance in Electoral > Area A (also known as Rural Golden) is on the agenda as item 8.7. That > meeting starts at 09:30 UTC−7 as it is in Salmon Arm, which observes BC > time. Based on Area Director Karen Cathcart's comments in the Town of > Golden's press release, we currently expect they'll align with Golden and > not RDEK, as there was much concern from all corners of the discussion > about creating a "checkerboard". > Director Cathcart opened discussion with a prepared statement providing the regional board with background: "On September 1, 2026, the Town Council of Golden made a decision regarding time observance in the community. Following that decision and my statement as Area A director, indicating my preference for Mountain Standard Time, a significant number of residents both from Area A and the Town of Golden contacted me by email, by phone, and face-to-face engagement, and you can see on the board report what those numbers are." Among many specific comments listed, Cathcart added that "[s]ome residents believe that the Town of Golden and Electoral Area A were conducting the joint survey with the [Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK)], which is the neighboring regional district, and that the final decision would be made collectively." She acknowledged that "[t]hese comments are fair and demonstrate that there has been differing understanding of the consultation process and the potential regional implications of that decision. … Given the apparent confusion regarding the survey and the decision-making process, as well as the ongoing division in our community, additional time would allow the Town of Golden and Electoral Area A to gather and assess further information before a decision is implemented. … So I respectfully request that the CSRD board support deferring this decision regarding time observance for Golden and Area A." Golden Mayor Ron Oszust, who also sits on the regional board as a municipal director and was among those in vocal support of MST at last week's Town Council meeting in Golden, seconded Cathcart's motion "respecting the comments", and the motion to defer quickly carried. It seems, then, that the Town of Golden is likely to revisit timekeeping at its next meeting on Tuesday 22 September at 13:15 UTC−6 and may decide to keep itself aligned with RDEK, Alberta, and America/Edmonton after all. CSRD, if it is to follow in formalizing a change, will likely not do so until its next meeting on Thursday 15 October at 09:30 UTC−7, just two days before general local elections and two weeks before the otherwise-scheduled time change. Although we'd had an eye on RDEK's next meeting tomorrow (Friday 11 September) at 09:00 UTC−6, it is worth noting that revisiting their decision to stay aligned with Alberta time is NOT on their published agenda. Given these recent discussions in and around Golden, it seems quite unlikely it will be added as a late agenda item. … So the safest thing for us to do, at this point, seems to be to revert the proposed America/Brit_Columbia/Golden change to avoid creating a new zone that may not be necessary once all the decisions shake out in southeastern British Columbia. As we're now inside of 8 weeks from the scheduled fall time change and when any timekeeping divergence might (or might not) occur locally, there is not much we'll be able to do to get any updated data out with enough time to reach enduser devices ahead of November if a divergence does occur. Instead, all of the usual workarounds would be necessary, like choosing manually between America/Vancouver and America/Edmonton depending on the decisions (or America/Whitehorse or America/Regina for those stuck using older data). Although we had been anticipating that these discussions could settle regionally this week, since they aren't, we will need to take the opportunity to cut a release for other pending changes like America/Inuvik for which we shouldn't delay any longer. -- Tim Parenti
