Time in Canada

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]

The Government of Canada recommends use of the 24-hour clock (e.g. 03:48), 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. 3:48 am), even when reading from a 24-hour display, similar to the use of the 24-hour clock in the United Kingdom.

• 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.^[21] All of Newfoundland and southern Labrador, which observes UTC−03:30 as its standard time zone, observed UTC−01:30.^[22] 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^[23] and 2026,^[24] respectively. Both jurisdictions switched to year-round Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−07:00, equivalent to Mountain Standard Time),^[25] leaving UTC−08:00 unused in Canada.

Daylight saving time (DST) is observed in six of ten provinces (all in Eastern Canada) and one of three territories, with exceptions. The six jurisdictions that do not observe DST are all located geographically west of their legislated 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.^[26]

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)".^[27] In a press release, the provincial government stated its intention to maintain alignment of clock time with Washington, Oregon, California, and Yukon.^[28] 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.^[29][30][31] 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.^[32]

In 2020, Yukon abandoned seasonal time change and moved to permanently observing MST year-round.^[33] In 2021, Alberta conducted a 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.^[34] 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,^[35][36] despite the results of the 2021 Alberta referendum. This put the province and territory in sync with Saskatchewan year-round. In September 2026, Golden, British Columbia, and Columbia-Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) Area A, two 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,^[37] while earlier in August, the Regional District of East Kootenay followed the decisions of Alberta and the Northwest Territories to adopt permanent year-round Central Standard Time, retaining the previous synchronization with Alberta.^[38] Later, on 22 September, Golden and CSRD Area A reversed their decision and chose to stay aligned with Alberta, thereby adopting year-round Central Standard Time (UTC−06:00).^[15]

On 17 September 2026, Manitoba premier Wab Kinew announced that Manitoba would be permanently adopting daylight time, effectively moving the province onto year-round Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05:00).^[18]

On 13 October 2026, Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Greg Rickford announced that parts of Northwestern Ontario would be permanently adopting daylight time to align with Manitoba.^[39]

Data for Canada from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.

More information C.c.*, Coordinates* ...

C.c.*	Coordinates*	TZ*	Comments*	UTC offset	UTC offset DST	Description	Map
CA	+4734−05243	America/St_Johns	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	+5125−05707	America/Blanc-Sablon	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	+4612−05957	America/Glace_Bay	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[40] and possibly part of mainland Nova Scotia
CA	+5320−06025	America/Goose_Bay	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	+4439−06336	America/Halifax	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[41]
CA	+4606−06447	America/Moncton	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/Pangnirtung		−05:00	−04:00	Redirects to America/Iqaluit	—
CA	+6344−06828	America/Iqaluit	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/Montreal		−05:00	−04:00	Redirects to America/Toronto as of version 2015c	—
CA	+4339−07923	America/Toronto	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/Nipigon		−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/Thunder_Bay		−05:00	−04:00	Redirects to America/Toronto Created because of a claim that Thunder Bay did not use DST in 1973	—
CA	+484531−0913718	America/Atikokan	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 four areas: Atikokan, Ontario; Mishkeegogamang First Nation in Ontario; Southampton Island, Nunavut; and Eureka station, Nunavut
CA	+624900−0920459	America/Rankin_Inlet	Central – NU (central)	−06:00	−05:00	Uses UTC−06:00 with daylight saving time
CA		America/Rainy_River		−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	+744144−0944945	America/Resolute	Central – NU (Resolute)	−06:00	−05:00	Now in sync with America/Rankin_Inlet but skipped daylight saving time in 2007 Includes Southampton Island
CA	+4953−09709	America/Winnipeg	EST – Manitoba, ON (northwest)	−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	+690650−1050310	America/Cambridge_Bay	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	+5024−10439	America/Regina	CST – SK (most areas)	−06:00		Has used UTC−06:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970
CA	+5017−10750	America/Swift_Current	CST – SK (midwest)	−06:00		Used UTC−07:00 year-round until 1972 Includes southwest Saskatchewan. Map is approximate; the exact boundaries are based on old school districts.
CA	+5333−11328	America/Edmonton	CST – AB, BC(E), NT(E), SK(W)	−06:00		Used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time until 2026 Includes all of Alberta, City of Lloydminster in Saskatchewan, Regional District of East Kootenay in British Columbia, and the eastern half of the Northwest Territories
CA		America/Yellowknife		−06:00		Redirects to America/Edmonton	—
CA	+4906−11631	America/Creston	MST – BC (Creston)	−07:00		Has used UTC−07:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970; alias for America/Phoenix
CA	+5546−12014	America/Dawson_Creek	MST – BC (Dawson Cr, Ft St John)	−07:00		Used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time until 1973 Includes the eastern half of Peace River Regional District
CA	+5848−12242	America/Fort_Nelson	MST – BC (Ft Nelson)	−07:00		Used UTC−07:00 with daylight saving time until 2015 Includes Northern Rockies Regional Municipality in British Columbia
CA	+4916−12307	America/Vancouver	MST – BC (most areas)	−07:00		Used UTC−08:00 with daylight saving time until 2026 Includes a majority of British Columbia
CA	+682059−1334300	America/Inuvik	CST – NT (west)	−06:00		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[42]
CA	+6043−13503	America/Whitehorse	MST – Yukon (east)	−07:00		Used UTC−08:00 with daylight saving time until 2020 Includes a majority of Yukon
CA	+6404−13925	America/Dawson	MST – Yukon (west)	−07:00		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[43]

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• 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