Time in Canada
 | This article may contain original research. (March 2026) |
| Standard | DST | Time zone name[a] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTC−07:00 (year-round) | Mountain[b] | ||
| UTC−07:00 | UTC−06:00 | Mountain | |
| UTC−06:00 (year-round) | Central[c] | ||
| UTC−06:00 | UTC−05:00 | Central | |
| UTC−05:00 (year-round) | Eastern | ||
| UTC−05:00 | UTC−04:00 | ||
| UTC−04:00 (year-round) | Atlantic | ||
| UTC−04:00 | UTC−03:00 | ||
| UTC−03:30 | UTC−02:30 | Newfoundland |
Canada is divided into five time zones: Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland time.[d] Many areas of the country's provinces and territories operate on standard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March and daylight saving time the rest of the year.[1]
The divisions between time zones were originally based on proposals by Scottish Canadian railway engineer Sandford Fleming, who pioneered the use of the 24-hour clock, the world's time zone system, and a standard prime meridian.[2]
Official time
[edit]
The National Research Council (NRC) maintains Canada's official time through the use of atomic clocks.[3] The official time is specified in legislation passed by the individual provinces. In Quebec it is based on coordinated universal time.[4] The other provinces use mean solar time.[5][6][7] The NRC provides both coordinated universal time and mean solar time in its signals.[8] It makes time servers available for direct synchronization with computers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired a daily time signal, the National Research Council Time Signal, beginning 5 November 1939.[9] The signal was discontinued on 15 October 2023.[10]
Time notation
[edit]
The Government of Canada recommends use of the 24-hour clock (e.g. 12:21), which is widely used in contexts such as transportation schedules, parking meters, and data transmission.[11] Speakers of Canadian French predominantly use this system, but most Canadian English speakers use the 12-hour clock in everyday speech (e.g. 12:21 pm), even when reading from a 24-hour display, similar to the use of the 24-hour clock in the United Kingdom.
Zones
[edit]Mountain Time Zone
[edit]Mountain Standard Time (MST) UTC−07:00 year-round
- British Columbia, where it is called Pacific Time[12] ()
- All of province except one municipality in Central Time
- Northwest Territories
- Cantung Mine (unofficial)[e]
- Prairie Creek Mine (unofficial)[f]
- Yukon, where it is called Yukon Standard Time[13] ()
Mountain Standard Time (MST) UTC−07:00 and Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) UTC−06:00
- Nunavut ()
- Kitikmeot Region
- Kivalliq Region west of 102°W
- Qikiqtaaluk Region west of 102°W
Central Time Zone
[edit]Central Standard Time (CST) UTC−06:00 year-round
- British Columbia
- Northwest Territories, where it is called Northwest Territories Time[15]
- Alberta, where it is called Alberta Time (ABT)[16]
- Saskatchewan ()
Central Standard Time (CST) UTC−06:00 and Central Daylight Time (CDT) UTC−05:00
- Manitoba
- Saskatchewan
- Creighton (unofficial)
- Northwest Territories
- Kasba Lake Lodge (unofficial)[g]
- Nunavut
- Qikiqtaaluk Region between 85°W and 102°W
- Kivalliq Region east of 102°W except areas using EST year-round
- Ontario (northwestern)
- all of province west of 90°W except areas using EST or EST/EDT
- one area east of 90°W: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation (Big Trout Lake) area
Eastern Time Zone
[edit]Eastern Standard Time (EST) UTC−05:00 year-round
- Nunavut
- Southampton Island, including Coral Harbour
- Eureka station
- Ontario
- Atikokan area (unofficial)
- Mishkeegogamang First Nation (New Osnaburgh) area, including Pickle Lake
Eastern Standard Time (EST) UTC−05:00 and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) UTC−04:00
- Nunavut
- east of 85°W
- Ontario
- all of province east of 90°W except one area using CST/CDT
- two areas west of 90°W: Shebandowan and Upsala (unofficial)
- Quebec[17]
- all of province except areas using AST or AST/ADT
Atlantic Time Zone
[edit]Atlantic Standard Time (AST) UTC−04:00 year-round
- Quebec
- areas east of the Natashquan River[17]
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) UTC−04:00 and Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT) UTC−03:00
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- all of Labrador except the southeastern tip
- New Brunswick
- Nova Scotia
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation
- Magdalen Islands
- Schefferville and surrounding area (unofficial)
Newfoundland Time Zone
[edit]Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) UTC−03:30 and Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) UTC−02:30
- Newfoundland and Labrador ()
- Island of Newfoundland
- southeastern tip of Labrador
Former time zones
[edit]- The Yukon Time Zone (UTC−09:00) covered most of Yukon from 1900 until 1966. In 1973, the last portions of Yukon switched to Pacific Time, leaving UTC−09:00 unused in Canada.
- In 1988, Newfoundland observed "double daylight saving time" from 3 April until 30 October, meaning that the time was set ahead by 2 hours.[18] All of Newfoundland and southern Labrador, which observes UTC−03:30 as its standard time zone, observed UTC−01:30.[19] This only happened in 1988 and the province now only adjusts its time by one hour for daylight saving time.
- Pacific Standard Time (UTC−08:00) was used in Yukon and most of British Columbia until 2020[20] and 2026,[21] respectively. Both jurisdictions switched to year-round Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−07:00, equivalent to Mountain Standard Time),[22] leaving UTC−08:00 unused in Canada.
Daylight saving time
[edit]Daylight saving time (DST) is observed in seven of ten provinces and one of three territories, with exceptions in several provinces and Nunavut. The five jurisdictions that do not observe DST are all located geographically west of their natural time zones by one hour or more, meaning that they effectively use daylight time year-round. Under the Constitution of Canada, laws related to timekeeping are a purely provincial matter.
Port Arthur, Ontario, was the first place in the world to introduce daylight saving time, on 1 July 1908. Four Canadian cities, by local ordinance, observed DST in 1916. Brandon, Manitoba, adopted it on 17 April. It was followed by Winnipeg on 23 April, Halifax on 30 April, and Hamilton, Ontario, on 4 June.[23]
In practice, DST across Canada has – since the late 1960s – been closely or completely synchronized with its observance in the United States to promote consistent economic and social interaction. When the United States extended DST in 1987 to the first Sunday in April, all DST-observing Canadian provinces followed suit to mimic the change. The latest United States change to daylight saving time – Energy Policy Act of 2005, which began observance in 2007, adding parts of March and November to the period in which daylight saving time is observed – was also adopted by the various provinces and territories of Canada.
In 2019, the legislature of British Columbia (BC) began the process of eliminating the practice of observing daylight saving time in the province. On 31 October 2019, the government introduced Bill 40 in the legislature, which would define Pacific Time as "7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)".[24] In a press release, the provincial government stated its intention to maintain alignment of clock time with Washington, Oregon, California, and Yukon.[25] The move followed a consultation earlier in 2019, in which the province received over 223,000 responses, 93% of which said they would prefer year-round DST as compared to the status quo of changing the clocks twice a year.[26][27][28] The premier of British Columbia discussed the issue with Yukon premier Sandy Silver, who said in October that he needed more consultation with Yukon stakeholders, and with Alberta and Alaska.[29]
In 2020, Yukon abandoned seasonal time change and moved to permanently observing MST year-round.[30] In 2021, Alberta conducted a binding referendum on whether the province should adopt permanent daylight time, in which 50.24% of respondents voted to continue switching between standard and daylight time.[31] On 2 March 2026, BC premier David Eby announced that following the 2019 consultation, British Columbia would permanently adopt daylight time on 8 March 2026, effectively moving the province onto year-round Mountain Standard Time; the remaining parts of the province that used Mountain Time with DST and were in sync with Alberta's time zone were unaffected by this move. Following BC's decision, Alberta and the Northwest Territories moved to adopt permanent year-round Central Standard Time in April 2026,[32][33] despite the binding results of the 2021 Alberta referendum. This put the province and territory in sync with Saskatchewan year-round. In August 2026, the municipalities in BC previously aligned with Alberta in observing Mountain Time with DST followed BC's decision to permanently adopt Mountain Standard Time, putting them in sync with the rest of BC as opposed to Alberta,[34] with the exception of the Regional District of East Kootenay[35], which followed the decisions of Alberta and the Northwest Territories to adopt permanent year-round Central Standard Time, retaining the previous synchronization with Alberta.
IANA time zone database
[edit]Data for Canada from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.
| C.c.* | Coordinates* | TZ* | Comments* | UTC offset | UTC offset DST | Description | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | +4734 | America | Newfoundland, Labrador (SE) | −03:30 | −02:30 | Uses UTC−03:30 with daylight saving time
Includes the entire Island of Newfoundland and the Labrador Straits region of Labrador |
 |
| CA | +5125 | America | AST – QC (Lower North Shore) | −04:00 | Has used UTC−04:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970; alias for America/Puerto_Rico
Includes all of Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality |
 | |
| CA | +4612 | America | Atlantic – NS (Cape Breton) | −04:00 | −03:00 | Now in sync with America/Halifax but did not adopt daylight saving time until 1972
Likely includes all of Cape Breton Island[36] |
 |
| CA | +5320 | America | Atlantic – Labrador (most areas) | −04:00 | −03:00 | Now in sync with America/Halifax but from 1987–2011, started and ended daylight saving time at 12:01 am rather than 2:00 am
Includes all of Labrador except for the Labrador Straits region |
 |
| CA | +4439 | America | Atlantic – NS (most areas), PE | −04:00 | −03:00 | Uses UTC−04:00 with daylight saving time
Includes a majority of Nova Scotia, all of Prince Edward Island, and Quebec's Magdalen Islands and Listuguj Miꞌgmaq First Nation[37] |
 |
| CA | +4606 | America | Atlantic – New Brunswick | −04:00 | −03:00 | Now in sync with America/Halifax but prior to 2007, started and ended daylight saving time at 12:01 am rather than 2:00 am
Includes all of New Brunswick |
 |
| CA | America | −05:00 | −04:00 | Redirects to America/Iqaluit | — | ||
| CA | +6344 | America | Eastern – NU (most areas) | −05:00 | −04:00 | Now in sync with America/Toronto but used −04:00 with daylight saving time until 1995 |  |
| CA | America | −05:00 | −04:00 | Redirects to America/Toronto as of version 2015c | — | ||
| CA | +4339 | America | Eastern – ON & QC (most areas) | −05:00 | −04:00 | Uses UTC−05:00 with daylight saving time
Includes a majority of Ontario and Quebec. Legally, its western boundary is the 90th meridian west but in practice, it is not observed by Big Trout Lake. Adoption of daylight saving time in Ontario may have been patchy until 1974. |
 |
| CA | America | −05:00 | −04:00 | Redirects to America/Toronto as of version 2022f
Created for places observing Eastern time that allegedly did not observe DST 1967–1973 but this was not well sourced |
— | ||
| CA | America | −05:00 | −04:00 | Redirects to America/Toronto
Created because of a claim that Thunder Bay did not use DST in 1973 |
— | ||
| CA | +484531 | America | EST – ON (Atikokan), NU (Coral H) | −05:00 | Has used UTC−05:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970; alias for America/Panama
Includes areas legally in Central Time but in practice observe EST year-round |
 | |
| CA | +624900 | America | Central – NU (central) | −06:00 | −05:00 | In sync with America/Winnipeg since the IANA cutoff date but kept as a separate zone |  |
| CA | America | −06:00 | −05:00 | Redirects to America/Winnipeg as of version 2022f
Created for places observing Central Time that allegedly did not observe daylight saving time from 1967–1973, but this is not well sourced |
— | ||
| CA | +744144 | America | Central – NU (Resolute) | −06:00 | −05:00 | Now in sync with America/Winnipeg but skipped daylight saving time in 2007
Includes Southampton Island |
 |
| CA | +4953 | America | Central – ON (west), Manitoba | −06:00 | −05:00 | Uses UTC−06:00 with daylight saving time
Includes Big Trout Lake and Denare Beach in practice, though by law they should be in America/Toronto and America/Regina, respectively |
 |
| CA | +690650 | America | Mountain – NU (west) | −07:00 | −06:00 | Now uses UTC−07:00 with daylight saving but used UTC−06:00 with daylight saving from 1999 to 2001
Includes the western third of Nunavut |
 |
| CA | +5024 | America | CST – SK (most areas) | −06:00 | Has used UTC−06:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970 |  | |
| CA | +5017 | America | CST – SK (midwest) | −06:00 | Now uses UTC−06:00 year-round but used UTC−07:00 year-round until 1972
Includes southwest Saskatchewan. Map is approximate; the exact boundaries are based on old school districts. |
 | |
| CA | +5333 | America | CST – AB, BC(E), NT(E), SK(W) | −06:00 | Uses UTC−06:00 year-round but used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time until 2026
Includes all of Alberta, Lloydminster in Saskatchewan, southeast British Columbia, and the eastern half of the Northwest Territories |
 | |
| CA | America | −06:00 | Redirects to America/Edmonton | — | |||
| CA | +4906 | America | MST – BC (Creston) | −07:00 | Has used UTC−07:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970; alias for America/Phoenix |  | |
| CA | +5546 | America | MST – BC (Dawson Cr, Ft St John) | −07:00 | Now uses UTC−07:00 year-round but used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time until 1973
Includes the eastern half of Peace River Regional District |
 | |
| CA | +5848 | America | MST – BC (Ft Nelson) | −07:00 | Now uses UTC−07:00 year-round but used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time until 2015
Includes Northern Rockies Regional Municipality in British Columbia |
 | |
| CA | +4916 | America | MST – BC (most areas) | −07:00 | Now uses UTC−07:00 year-round but used UTC−08:00 with daylight saving time until 2026
Includes a majority of British Columbia |
 | |
| CA | +682059 | America | Mountain – NT (west) | −07:00 | −06:00 | Uses UTC−06:00 year-round but used UTC−08:00 with daylight saving time until 1979 and used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time from 1979 to 2026
Defined as areas in NWT west of 120th meridian west[38] |
 |
| CA | +6043 | America | MST – Yukon (east) | −07:00 | Now uses UTC−07:00 year-round but used UTC−08:00 with daylight saving time until 2020
Includes a majority of Yukon |
 | |
| CA | +6404 | America | MST – Yukon (west) | −07:00 | Now uses UTC−07:00 year-round but used UTC−09:00 with daylight saving time until 1973 and used UTC−08:00 with daylight saving time from 1973–2020
Includes all of Yukon west of 138th meridian west[39] |
 |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ↑ The time zone column does not have legal meaning and may deviate from the government-designated name of the time zone.
- ↑ Year-round UTC−7 is referred to as Pacific Time by the British Columbia government (not to be confused with Pacific Standard Time in the United States) and as Yukon Standard Time by the Yukon government.
- ↑ Year-round UTC−6 is referred to as Alberta Time by the Alberta government and as Northwest Territories Time by the Northwest Territories government.
- ↑ At any given time in Canada, either five or six UTC offsets are active in Canada: UTC−7, UTC−6, UTC−5, UTC−4, UTC−3:30 (standard time only), UTC−3 (DST only), and UTC−2:30 (DST only).
- ↑ Tungsten (Cantung) Airport is shown as observing PST/PDT.[1]
- ↑ Prairie Creek Airport in southwest NWT, operated by Canadian Zinc, is shown as observing PST/PDT.[1]
- ↑ Kasba Lake Airport is shown as operating on CST/CDT.[1]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 27 November 2025 to 0901Z 22 January 2026.
- ↑ Creet, Mario (1990). "Sandford Fleming and Universal Time". Scientia Canadensis: Canadian Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. 14 (1–2): 66–89. doi:10.7202/800302ar.
- ↑ "NRC time services". National Research Council. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ↑ National Assembly (1 January 2007). "Legal Time Act 2006". Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ Queen's Printer, St John's (2012). "Standard Time Act RSNL 1990". Retrieved 21 September 2020. By §2(1) "Time in the province shall be reckoned as 3 1/2 hours later [sic] than Greenwich mean solar time."
- ↑ Queen's Printer for Ontario (31 December 1990). "Time Act, R.S.O. 1990". Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ The Queen's Printer (26 February 1978). "The Time Act 1978" (PDF). Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ "DUT1 announcement". National Research Council. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ Bartlett, Geoff (5 November 2014). "'The beginning of the long dash' indicates 75 years of official time on CBC". CBC News. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ↑ Taekema, Dan (10 October 2023). "The end of the long dash: CBC stops broadcasting official time signal". CBC News. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ↑ Collishaw, Barbara (2002). "FAQs on Writing the Time of Day". Terminology Update. 35 (3): 11. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ↑ "Adopting permanent daylight saving time". BC Gov News. 2 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
- ↑ "Learn about Yukon Standard Time". yukon.ca. Government of Yukon Executive Council Office. 15 January 2026. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
- ↑ Cobb, Ian (14 August 2026). "East Kootenay to stay on Mountain Daylight Time | Columbia Valley, Cranbrook, East Kootenay, Elk Valley, Kimberley, Ktunaxa Nation". East Kootenay News Online Weekly. Retrieved 14 August 2026.
- ↑ https://www.justice.gov.nt.ca/en/files/legislation/interpretation/interpretation.r2.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ "Alberta's new time system (ABT) | Alberta.ca". www.alberta.ca. 3 September 2026. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
- 1 2 Legal time in Québec Archived 11 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry of Justice of Quebec, 20 April 2015.
- ↑ Benesh, Peter (21 June 1988). "Daylight Almost Until Midnight: Newfoundland Tries out Double Daylight-Saving Time". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ↑ Order re: Newfoundland Double Daylight Savings Time, 1988. O.C. 1404/87. Newfoundland Gazette, 1988-02-19, page 67.
- ↑ What We Heard: Seasonal Time Change Public Engagement (PDF), Government of Yukon, 3 March 2020, archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2026, retrieved 26 May 2026
- ↑ "Permanent daylight saving time - Province of British Columbia". Government of British Columbia. 23 March 2026. Archived from the original on 26 May 2026. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ "Learn about Yukon Standard Time". Government of Yukon. 15 January 2026. Archived from the original on 26 May 2026. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Doris Chase Doane, Time Changes in Canada and Mexico, 2nd edition, 1972.
- ↑ "Bill 40 – 2019: Interpretation Amendment Act, 2019". Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. 2019. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ "Interpretation amendment act sets stage for year-round daylight time" (PDF) (Press release). British Columbia Office of the Premier / Ministry of Attorney General. 31 October 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ Chan, Cheryl (11 September 2019). "B.C. survey shows overwhelming support for permanent Daylight Saving Time". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ "Daylight Saving Time Public Consultation: Final Report" (PDF). 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ "B.C.'s daylight saving survey gets more public engagement than marijuana regulation". CBC News. 5 July 2019. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ Plonka, Gabrielle (1 October 2019). "B.C. premier meets with Silver, grand chief". Whitehorse Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ↑ "Yukon to end seasonal time change". Government of Yukon. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ↑ "Daylight saving time engagement | Alberta.ca". www.alberta.ca. 3 September 2026. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
- ↑ "Alberta's new time system (ABT) | Alberta.ca". www.alberta.ca. 2 September 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "N.W.T to follow Alberta in ditching clock changes, will adopt permanent daylight time". Journal Of Commerce. 23 April 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Council supports permanent Mountain Standard Time for Golden - The Golden Star". 2 September 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ Crawley, Trevor (14 August 2026). "RDEK board endorses move to permanent Mountain Daylight Savings time". Cranbrook Daily Townsman. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "tzdb data for North and Central America and environs". Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ Legal Time Act, CQLR c T-5.1, s 2.
- ↑ Interpretation Act, SC 1967–68, c 7, s 28, "standard time".
- ↑ Interpretation Ordinance, YCO 1967/59.