Twice a year, residents of Portage la Prairie and across Manitoba find themselves adjusting their clocks at 2 a.m. It’s a ritual that has puzzled many, but the reasoning is rooted in practicality and history. The 2 a.m. mark was chosen as the least disruptive time. Midnight was too confusing, since it could blur one day into the next. Earlier in the evening would have interrupted social activities. By the middle of the night, most Portagers are asleep, businesses are closed, and very few trains are moving. In fact, when Daylight Saving Time was first introduced, railway timetables played a big role. Fewer trains at that hour meant fewer headaches when it came to adjusting schedules. Europe chose another route, tying the shift to 1:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) so that all European countries adjust at the exact same moment. That way, airlines and trains crossing borders could stay in sync. In Portage la Prairie, residents may not think much about the history when they set their clocks back or forward, but there is momentum in Manitoba to end the practice altogether. The provincial government has already said it will stop the time change if U.S. states take the same step. Daylight Saving Time (DST) originated during World War I to conserve energy by shifting an hour of daylight to the evening. Germany first officially implemented it in 1916, and many other countries, including the United States in 1918, followed suit to save fuel for the war effort. While Benjamin Franklin had proposed a similar concept earlier for saving candles, the modern, widespread adoption of DST was a wartime measure. Global adoption: Other countries, like the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, adopted DST during the war to help with their own wartime efforts. Post-war: After the war ended, the United States government initially repealed the law but reinstated it during World War II. Local vs. national: In the US, for a period after WWII, individual states and cities could choose whether to observe DST, leading to confusion. The federal government standardized the practice in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act, though states can still opt out. Later developments: The energy crisis of the 1970s brought renewed attention to DST's energy-saving goals, and some countries have explored making DST permanent to avoid the twice-yearly clock changes. World War I: Germany was the first country to officially implement DST on May 1, 1916, to conserve coal and energy for the war. For now, Portagers continue to spring forward and fall back, even as the debate grows louder. What began as a solution for trains and commerce a century ago has become a modern conversation about health, productivity, and whether the biannual shift still makes sense.