Millions of Canadians will find their clocks go back one hour on November 3, marking the end of daylight saving time for this year.

Dawn will break earlier in the morning and darkness will loom earlier in the afternoon as standard time returns. Most provinces and territories observe the shift, which occurs annually on the first Sunday in November, with the exception of Saskatchewan and Yukon, which follow standard time year-round.

Canadians have, perhaps reluctantly, participated in solar-oriented time changes since 1918. The federal government introduced daylight saving time during World War I to increase production, shifting an hour of sunlight from before breakfast to after dinner. Germany and Britain had already passed similar legislation.

The federally regulated time change ended with World War I, but resumed during World War II, when Canada, along with the United States, returned to year-round daylight saving time. Most countries changed their clocks during this period. Since then, governments at the provincial and municipal levels have regulated daylight time in their respective time zones.

The scheme we know today is only 17 years old. In March 2007, then-US President George W. Bush changed the existing daylight saving time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, introducing a weeks-long extension of the previous time frame. The intention was to save energy, which would reduce the amount of time people needed to light their homes. Canada followed suit.

How long Canada must stick to that schedule is up for debate. The Canadian Sleep Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have called for an end to daylight saving time.

In November 2020, Ontario passed the Time Amendment Act, paving the way to make daylight saving time the year-round standard. Ontario’s attorney general has said the government will only implement the plan if Quebec and New York state cooperate.

Earlier this week, Quebec launched a public consultation on the time change, which could lead to legislation.

Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said Tuesday that changing the clock “has important consequences for the lives of Quebecers,” and could affect people’s ability to concentrate and make them more irritable.

In March, nearly 90,000 people signed a petition to permanently end Daylight Savings Time in Canada.