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VICTORIA — Though Premier John Horgan prides himself on being in touch with everyday folk, he was caught off guard by the record-setting public response to his government’s survey on Daylight Saving Time.

“Two hundred and 50 thousand BCers, plus or minus 10,000 or 20,000, went online, spent five minutes giving the government of B.C. their views on DST,” Horgan told reporters after results were announced Monday.

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“I did not expect that type of a response.”

To be more precise, 223,273 British Columbians responded to the online questionnaire before submissions closed last week, making for what the New Democrats characterized as the biggest response ever to a provincial survey.

By comparison, 40,151 British Columbians responded to an online survey in the fall of 2017 that sought their views on issues surrounding the legalization of non-medical cannabis.

Another 91,725 British Columbians filled out the online questionnaire that helped shape the 2018 referendum on electoral reform. The response period on the latter was a full 14 weeks versus just four on Daylight Saving Time.