Time running out on Mountain Standard Time in Alberta?

Alberta should become a national leader in abandoningthe practice of changing our clockstwice a year, Neil Hollands told a public hearing in Edmonton.

"I could see Alberta being a leader in doing that," he told thehearing at the Federal Building Tuesday."One of the problems with Alberta just doing it is that it does put us out of sync for half the year with some of the other jurisdictions."

Hollands said he'd like to see a national discussion on time changes.

"Changing the clocks twice a year is like going back to an archaic requirement that was probably good 40-50 years ago," he said.

• Alberta legislature bill proposes adopting central standard time year round

• Edmonton MLA launches consultations on ending daylight saving time

The provincial government is considering abandoning time changes which would leave Alberta on Mountain Daylight Time year round, though the time zonewould be renamed to Alberta Standard Time.

Alberta Standard Timewould put the provincetwo hours ahead of British Columbia in the winter andone hour behind Ontario.

"We're hearing comments all over the place," said GrahamSucha, MLA for Calgary Shaw and the chair of the Economic Committee on Alberta's Future which is hosting the hearings.

HollyTokertold the committee she's in favour of keeping things the way they are.

Getting her two children to school in the winter is much easier when there's daylight in the morning.

"They wake up better, just like everyone, when there's light," she said. "I feel it's more important to have light in the morning than to have that extra hour in the evening."

Tokeralso holds a driver's license that restricts her to driving during daylight.

"If it's not light until 9:30 in the morning, I won't be able to take my kids to school," she said. "It's going to be harder to get myself to work."

The public hearings move to Calgary and Lethbridge later this week.

Suchasaid a referendum on daylighttime would cost a minimum of $6 million if done at the same time as an election and over $20 million if held on its own.