why is newfoundland time zone 1/2 hour off from the rest of canada and not 1 hour?

Question

canadas time zones and almost the rest of the world is on the hour but not newfoundland and noboby will give me the real reason

Answer 1

Other places that are an 1/2 hour off in time zones include India, Iran, Sir Lanka, Afghanistan, and parts of Australia.

Thinking about it, it is a combination of location, geography, history, tradition and climate. Also time zones tend to be a balance of local convenience to have “solar time” verses the relationship with the rest of the world and convenience of being in step with them. Keep in mind that tradition and history of solar time needs to be drastically disrupted to change.

Newfoundland: We need to define what we are talking about. The province is officially Newfoundland and Labrador. Its population is about half a million, with PEI being the only province with a smaller population. There are 2 time zones. Labrador is on Atlantic Time. So when talking about the Newfoundland time zone, it is only the eastern half of the province. "The Rock"

Inventing coordinated time zones: (see link) Before the 1800’s everyone used local time or solar time. Who cares if you synchronize watches when there is not instant communication like Internet and telephones, and when travel there takes a week. That started to change with railways. Time became an issue as Canadian and US railways would transport people faster. The train would want to be on a schedule for several stops and time needed to be better coordinated.

Coordinating with Canada: Your question is half asking why Newfoundland remains different than the Canadian standard. Here are some reasons. 1) Those Canadian railways that invented the necessity to coordinate time don’t go to Newfoundland. It’s an island. 2) They were their own colony and didn’t join Canada until after World War 2. Not all of them were happy to join Canada. As a separate colony, they didn’t just automatically conform to Canadian standards. And now, to a certain extent as Canada’s newest province, they are more likely rallying around Newfoundland culture, patriotism, traditions and history. Then realize, they border on Quebec, the province they may have the least similarities with.

So, over the years, time was evolving differently between Canada and Newfoundland. There was no reason to coordinate. Like I pointed out, there was no reason during the transportation improvements. Then came communication improvements, which is when we started to notice the difference. Maybe there are reasons to now, maybe there isn’t. Maybe there are but it is too late, or there are and they are too stubborn.

Coordinating with the World: The Atlantic Ocean is a big enough barrier that it doesn’t matter too much if they are 3 or 3.5 hours different than the UK.

Population Demographics: Greater St John’s is the largest city at 125,000; the next 5 cities combined have a population of less than half of St John’s. The 7th largest and lower all have less than 10,000 people. Of those 5 cities over 10,000, 1 is in Labrador (the other times zone) and 3 are near St John’s. So, that is where they all live. And where that has them is they are all on the extreme East Coast of the Island. This helps again to show how that a majority of the people is remote from Canada. But it also shows were the province would coordinate it’s time with. The East coast is close to the center of the time zone. (The sun rises and sets at almost the exact time in St John’s as it does in Toronto.) Yet no use making it a full hour difference when no one lives in the other half of the time zone as it is all ocean. Thus this time zone is the ideal “solar time” for St John’s, and that is where the majority of them live.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
why is newfoundland time zone 1/2 hour off from the rest of canada and not 1 hour?
canadas time zones and almost the rest of the world is on the hour but not newfoundland and noboby will give me the real reason

Answer 3

Time In Newfoundland

Answer 4

Newfoundland Time

Answer 5

Many locations are half an hour or even a quarter of an hour out of synch. It is due to their location. Time zones are to make it so that the sun rises and sets at a reasonable time. Newfoundland is not quite far enough east or west for it to be a whole hour out, so they make it half an hour instead.

Answer 6

The real reason is that it isn't far enough away to be a full hour distant. That would put it out of whack with other cities that were legitimately in the next time zone. But it is too far away from the mainland to use the same time zone, so they split the difference and gave Newfie's that infamous half hour.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Its becuase of where it is located and where the sun rises. Same with BC. Also the same reason why its night in China when its daytime here.

Newfoundland I believe is actually 2 hours ahead of us (I'm in Ontario) and Alberta and certain parts of BC is 2 hours behind and the rest of BC is 3 hours behind.

:)

Answer 9

They're Newfies! What can you expect? While they are the friendliest, hardest working people you will ever meet, there is just no denying that they are different! A culture unto themselves.

Answer 10

Newfoundlanders pride themselves on being different.