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Edmonton NDP MLA Thomas Dang defended his private member’s bill to ditch the twice-yearly time change during a friendly grilling by MLAs on Wednesday evening.

The bill — which would shift Alberta to central time year-round, keeping extra daylight in the summer but making for some dark mornings in the winter — was referred to committee for further study and public consultation when it came up for second reading in April.

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In general, MLAs Wednesday at committee had small concerns and many expressed cautious support for the change to what would be called Alberta Standard Time, citing favourable input from constituents.

“The type of stories I heard on my consultation struck a chord on many levels,” said Dang during the Economic Future Committee meeting at the Federal Building in Edmonton. “People keep asking me to keep fighting for this bill.”

One persistent concern was the increased darkness in the mornings, especially with children walking to school. Progressive Conservative MLA Richard Gotfried said that has to be explained to people during consultations.