Alberta's end to seasonal clock changes causing digital calendar chaos for some

Some experts say disruptions to be expected, should be resolved by the fall

Calgary hairstylist Jordan Janovcik says he hadn't given much thought to Alberta's decision to eliminate seasonal clock changes until he went to book an appointment with a client the other day.

"I was trying to get a client in in November and I noticed, why is my start time an hour later?" he said.

Janovcik said he usually starts at 11 a.m., but the start time in the online booking system had been pushed to noon. He quickly realized all of the appointments he had prebooked from November to March had also been pushed back an hour.

"I was freaking out about this," he said. "I started digging into it and I'm realizing it's because we're not having a time change, but [the computer] thinks we are."

He estimates eight out of 10 of his clients have had their appointments altered. Since his salon books appointments eight months in advance, Janovcik said he could lose business if the issue is not resolved.

In June, Alberta passed the Official Time Act, keeping the province on year-round daylight time, known as "Alberta Time," when it would have set clocks back an hour on Nov. 1.

But some experts say disruptions are to be expected and should hopefully be resolved by the fall.

Janovcik said other business owners have told him anecdotally they are struggling with similar issues and are concerned about how their computer systems will react when clocks don't fall back.

"This feels like a secret Y2K that we're not ready for, I think," he said.

Calgary Chamber of Commerce CEO Deborah Yedlin also likened the current disruptions to the Y2K computer scare at the turn of the century, when there were concerns about a computer glitch threatening global technology systems.

"Back in 2000, we were all worried that everything wasn't going to work," she said. "So we're going to have to make sure that whatever programming adjustments have to be made to the specific calendars are going to have to be done in advance of this."

Time is always a thorny issue when it comes to computer systems, said Hazel Campbell, who teaches computer software at the University of Alberta.

"I would say that this kind of situation is to be expected anytime there's a change like this," she said.

Campbell said any computer-automated system could be disrupted ahead of the time change, such as flight booking schedules.

"You could think of something as simple as if you showed up at the airport on Nov. 1. Are the times on the departures board going to be off by an hour? They might be if systems aren't completely updated or any bugs are worked out," she said.

But B.C.-based IT consultant Rohana Rezel said most systems connected to the internet should be okay come November as long as the proper updates are made to the Time Zone Database they use to calculate the change.

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The database, he said, is updated by volunteers and all changes go through a peer review process.

As of an Aug. 7 software release, the Time Zone Database has been updated to reflect Alberta's move to permanent daylight time.

Still, Rezel said companies behind digital calendars and booking software often maintain their own databases, so updates reflecting the change could take longer to come through, especially because the move was only made official in June.

"Five months is a pretty condensed timeline to get this done because you need to update your software, you need to make sure that everyone gets a hold of your new database," he said.

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Rezel added that anything offline — like medical imaging or utilities systems — will need to be updated manually.

For Janovcik, he said he's closed his online booking system for now to avoid any confusion for his clients. He's hoping the issue gets resolved soon, for him and his customers.

"Money is one thing but I don't want to lose clients," he said. "I have 20 years in the industry. I've worked so hard for this."

Kelsea Arnett is a reporter with CBC Calgary and part of the 2025 CBC News Summer Scholarship cohort. She worked as a researcher for CBC during the 2023 Alberta provincial election and previously worked as a reporter for the Globe and Mail. You can reach her at kelsea.arnett@cbc.ca.

With files from Colleen Underwood and Chelsey Mutter