HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) – It’s going to take some time for Nova Scotia to decide whether to follow the U.S. lead in changing the hours of daylight in March and November.

President Bush has signed an energy bill that will start daylight-saving time three weeks earlier, and end a week later starting in 2007.

Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm said the province has to take a look at the issue, but said Wednesday he does not yet have a position on the issue.

The time change, which is expected to get at least a brief discussion at a Canadian premiers meeting this week, comes months after neighboring Maine also considered but later rejected a time change on its own.

Under the bill proposed in Maine, the state would move into the Atlantic Time Zone, the same used in some Canadian Maritime Provinces. In effect, there would have been no more clock changing to account for daylight saving time in the state. The defeated bill called for a referendum on the change and authorization by the U.S. transportation secretary.

In Canada, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer has already said he wants his province to change in accordance with the new American law since it would make sense to stay in line with Canada’s largest trading partner. He also noted an extra hour of daylight on Halloween would be safer for trick-or-treaters.

Hamm said he’ll ask the provincial Energy Department to calculate potential energy savings. “It’s more than an issue about whether or not you can afford the energy, it’s all about conservation,” he said.

“I think we all have a responsibility to look at ways in which we can conserve energy, in particular, nonrenewable energy, and we use a lot of nonrenewable energy in Nova Scotia.”

Hamm said staying in sync with the U.S. for business reasons will also be a key factor in the analysis.

Daylight saving time currently starts on the last Sunday in April and ends the last Sunday in October. Under the U.S. policy, it’ll start on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.

The original proposal had been for an extra two months of daylight saving time. The rationale behind the change is an expected saving in energy.