[tz] permanent DST and North American time zone names

[Chris Walton]

Regardless of what the legislation does or does not say, this database
needs to quickly adopt a strategy to deal with changes that may be
necessary for all North American Time zones.
The supporters and maintainers of this time zone database can take an
active role in helping to define and endorse a common standard, or they can
sit back and watch the politicians and the general public fumble the job.
It would be helpful if there was some collaboration between Microsoft and
the supporters/maintainers of this database.

I think it is likely that if the US government approves the Sunshine
Protection Act, that most Canadian provinces and territories will follow
with similar legislation.
- British Columbia and Ontario already have the necessary legislation in
place.
- Saskatchewan has not changed its clocks in many years.
- Yukon stopped changing its clocks in 2020.
- Alberta recently voted to keep the biannual change, it could be the lone
holdout!
I admit I have not been following the other Canadian territories and
provinces closely.
Also, I have no clue what Mexico, Saint Pierre & Miquelon, or any of the
small island nations will decide to do.

For this database I can envision four options moving forward:

*Option #1*: ditch the three letter time zone strings and use only
numerical offsets from UTC.
 This is a complete cop out that says "Let's abandon our end users and let
somebody else deal with the issue".  It is my least favorite option.
  e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Vancouver:
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *-07* 2024   (UTC-07)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *-07* 2024   (UTC-07)
  e.g. New York and Toronto:
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *-04* 2024   (UTC-04)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *-04* 2024   (UTC-04)


*Option #2*: allow permanent daylight saving
This could be implemented without too many complications, but it goes
against the philosophy that daylight saving is an alternate time offset
that is only used for part of the year.
This is not my favorite option even though it is probably the least
disruptive.  I do not think it will make any sense 20 years from now.
 e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Whitehorse would be on
permanent *Pacific
Daylight Time*
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *PDT* 2024   (UTC-07)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *PDT* 2024   (UTC-07)
 e.g. New York and Toronto would be on permanent *Eastern Daylight Time*:
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *EDT *2024   (UTC-04)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *EDT* 2024   (UTC-04)


*Option #3*: move most North American entries in the TZ database one zone
to the east:
I know we have done this in the past for places such as America/Whitehorse,
but I expect if we did it for all of Canada and the US it would not align
with the public's perception of reality.  Also, it provides no clear path
to deal with any places that are currently using *Atlantic Daylight Time
(UTC-03)*.
 e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Whitehorse would be on
permanent *Mountain
Standard Time*
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024   (UTC-07)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024   (UTC-07)
 e.g. New York and Toronto would be on permanent *Atlantic Standard Time*:
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024   (UTC-04)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024   (UTC-04)


*Option #4*: redefine AKST, PST, MST, CST, EST, AST, and NST to all be one
hour closer to UTC time.
 This is currently my preferred option even though it may break some
software and it is guaranteed to conflict with the Canadian Interpretation
Act.
 Alaska Standard Time      (AKST) is redefined to UTC-08.
 Pacific Standard Time      (PST) is redefined to UTC-07.
 Mountain Standard Time     (MST) is redefined to UTC-06.
 Central Standard Time      (CST) is redefined to UTC-05.
 Eastern Standard Time      (EST) is redefined to UTC-04.
 Atlantic Standard Time     (AST) is redefined to UTC-03.
 Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) is redefined to UTC-02:30 (assuming
Newfoundland abandons the biannual time change)
  e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Whitehorse would be on *Pacific
Standard Time* year-round:
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *PST* 2024   (UTC-07)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *PST* 2024   (UTC-07)
  e.g. New York and Toronto would be on *Eastern Standard Time* year-round:
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024   (UTC-04)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024   (UTC-04)
  e.g. Alberta would have to adopt new time zone names:  *Pacific Standard
Time* in winter, and *Pacific Daylight Time* in summer. (Alberta recently
voted to keep the biannual clock change).
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *PST* 2024   (UTC-07)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *PDT* 2024   (UTC-06)
  e.g. Saskatchewan would have to start referring to its time zone
name as *Mountain
Standard Time* instead of *Central Standard Time*. (Saskatchewan has used
*UTC-06* year-round for many years)
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024   (UTC-06)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024   (UTC-06)
  e.g. Puerto Rico would have to start referring to its time zone as *Eastern
Standard Time* instead of *Atlantic Standard Time*.
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024   (UTC-04)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024   (UTC-04)
  e.g. If Atlantic Canada and Bermuda were to continue changing the clocks
twice a year, they would be on *Eastern Standard Time* in winter and *Eastern
Daylight Time* in summer.
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024   (UTC-04)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *EDT* 2024   (UTC-03)
 e.g. If,  Atlantic Canada and Bermuda were to abandon the time change,
then they would both end up on *Atlantic Standard Time* year-round.
        Thu Feb  1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024   (UTC-03)
        Thu Aug  1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024   (UTC-03)

Did I miss anything?
-chris
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/attachments/20220316/5fe561df/attachment.html>