Time in Canada

Canada is divided into five time zones: Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland time. 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. 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. Official time The National Research Council (NRC) maintains Canada's official time through the use of atomic clocks. The official time is specified in legislation passed by the individual provinces. In Quebec it is based on coordinated universal time. The other provinces use mean solar time. The NRC provides both coordinated universal time and mean solar time in its signals. 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. The signal was discontinued on 15 October 2023. Time notation The Government of Canada recommends use of the 24-hour clock (e.g. 02:06), which is widely used in contexts such as transportation schedules, parking meters, and data transmission. Speakers of Canadian French predominantly use this system, but most Canadian English speakers use the 12-hour clock in everyday speech (e.g. 2:06 am), even when reading from a 24-hour display, similar to the use of the 24-hour clock in the United Kingdom. Zones Mountain Time Zone Mountain Standard Time (MST) UTC−07:00 year-round British Columbia (see Time in British Columbia) All of province except regions observing daylight saving time Northwest Territories Cantung Mine (unofficial) Prairie Creek Airport area (unofficial) Yukon (see Yukon Time Zone) Mountain Standard Time (MST) UTC−07:00 and Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) UTC−06:00 British Columbia (southeastern) Columbia-Shuswap Regional District Area A (east of the Selkirk Mountains) Regional District of East Kootenay Town of Golden Northwest Territories All of territory except for small areas observing MST year-round and areas observing CST/CDT Nunavut (see Time in Nunavut) Kitikmeot Region Qikiqtaaluk Region west of 102°W Central Time Zone Central Standard Time (CST) UTC−06:00 year-round Alberta, where it is officially called Alberta Time and formerly known as Mountain Daylight Time. Saskatchewan (see Time in Saskatchewan) all of province except Creighton Central Standard Time (CST) UTC−06:00 and Central Daylight Time (CDT) UTC−05:00 Manitoba Saskatchewan Creighton (unofficial) Northwest Territories North of Sixty Fishing Camps and Kasba Lake Lodge (unofficial) Nunavut Qikiqtaaluk Region between 85°W and 102°W Kivalliq Region except Southampton Island (Coral Harbour) and Eureka station Ontario (northwestern) all of province west of 90°W except Mishkeegogamang First Nation (New Osnaburgh) area, including Pickle Lake (uses EST year-round) Atikokan area (unofficially uses EST year-round) Shebandowan and Upsala areas (unofficially use EST/EDT) Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation (Big Trout Lake) area Eastern Time Zone 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 Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation (Big Trout Lake) area (uses CST/CDT) two areas west of 90°W: Shebandowan and Upsala (unofficial) Quebec all of province except east of the Natashquan River (uses AST year-round) Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation (uses AST/ADT) Magdalen Islands (uses AST/ADT) Schefferville and surrounding area (unofficially uses AST/ADT) Atlantic Time Zone Atlantic Standard Time (AST) UTC−04:00 year-round Quebec east of the Natashquan River 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 Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) UTC−03:30 and Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) UTC−02:30 Newfoundland and Labrador (see Newfoundland Time Zone) Island of Newfoundland southeastern tip of Labrador Former time zones 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. All of Newfoundland and southern Labrador, which observes UTC−03:30 as its standard time zone, observed UTC−01:30. 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 and 2026, respectively. Both jurisdictions switched to year-round Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−07:00, equivalent to Mountain Standard Time), leaving UTC−08:00 unused in Canada. Daylight saving time Four Canadian cities, by local ordinance, observed daylight saving time 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. Port Arthur, Ontario, was the first place in the world to introduce it, on 1 July 1908. Daylight saving time is observed in eight of ten provinces and two of three territories, with exceptions in several provinces and Nunavut. Most of the province of Saskatchewan, despite geographically being in the Mountain Time Zone, observes year-round CST. In 2020, the territory of Yukon abandoned seasonal time change and moved to permanently observing MST year-round. Under the Constitution of Canada, laws related to timekeeping are a purely provincial matter. In practice, since the late 1960s DST across Canada has 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. In 2019, the legislature of British Columbia 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)". In a press release, the provincial government stated an intention to maintain alignment of clock time with Washington, Oregon, California, and Yukon. The move follows 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. The premier of British Columbia discussed the issue with Yukon premier Sandy Silver, who said in October that he needs more consultation with Yukon stakeholders, and with Alberta and Alaska. On 2 March 2026, Premier David Eby announced that following these consultations, the province will permanently adopt daylight time on 8 March 2026; however, some eastern parts of the province that use Mountain Time will not be affected by the change. The latest United States change (Energy Policy Act of 2005) to daylight saving time, adding parts of March and November to when daylight saving time is observed, which began in 2007 was also adopted by the various provinces and territories of Canada. IANA time zone database Data for Canada from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself. See also Lists of time zones Newfoundland's Daylight Saving Act of 1917 1972 British Columbia time plebiscite Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting National Research Council Time Signal Date and time notation in Canada Notes References External links Time zones and daylight saving time Official Times across Canada