It’s time to talk.

City of Cranbrook council Monday night endorsed the city’s participation in collaborative discussions and decisions at the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) Board of Directors, with other member municipalities, First Nations, and other regional districts currently in the Mountain Time Zone.

Council also supports returning to Mountain Standard Time and remain aligned with the province moving forward.

The City of Cranbrook has not officially adopted any time zone changes.

This follows the March 2, B.C. Government announcement that the province would be adopting permanent daylight savings time as part of the new Pacific Time Zone. The City of Cranbrook and the East Kootenay was not included in this announcement.

The province noted in its official media release that local governments in East Kootenay communities can decide whether they want to observe the new Pacific Time along with the rest of the province or not.

Following the province’s announcement, council publicly indicated its preference to have discussions with the other local governments in the East Kootenay about the region not being included in the time zone change announcement.

The RDEK says it is gathering feedback from local governments and First Nations before considering making a decision as a region. Local governments can decide their own time observations, however, the process and authority from the province to do this is unclear.

“Certainly, the feedback the city has received suggests that residents overwhelmingly support being on the same time zone as the rest of the province year round,” said Mayor Wayne Price. “Council has agreed to work closely with our RDEK and First Nations partners in gathering a regional consensus.”

The City of Cranbrook holds two seats on the 15-seat RDEK Board of Directors.

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