| Standard | DST | Time zone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTC−08:00 | UTC−07:00 | Pacific | |
| UTC−07:00 (year round) | Mountain | ||
| UTC−07:00 | UTC−06:00 | ||
| UTC−06:00 (year round) | Central | ||
| UTC−06:00 | UTC−05:00 | ||
| 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 sixtime zones: Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland time. Most areas ofthe country's provinces and territories operate onstandard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March anddaylight saving time the rest of the year.[1]
The divisions between time zones are based on proposals byScottish Canadian railway engineerSandford Fleming, who pioneered the use of the24-hour clock, the world's time zone system, and a standardprime meridian.[2]
TheNational Research Council (NRC) maintains Canada's official time through the use ofatomic 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 makestime servers available for direct synchronization with computers. TheCanadian Broadcasting Corporation aired a dailytime signal, theNational Research Council Time Signal, beginning 5 November 1939.[9] The signal was discontinued on 15 October 2023.[10]
TheGovernment of Canada recommends use of the24-hour clock (e.g. 03:09), which is widely used in contexts such as transportation schedules, parking meters, and data transmission.[11] Speakers ofCanadian French predominantly use this system, but mostCanadian English speakers use the12-hour clock in everyday speech (e.g. 3:09 am), even when reading from a 24-hour display, similar to the use of the24-hour clock in the United Kingdom.
Pacific Standard Time (PST) UTC−08:00 and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) UTC−07:00:
Mountain Standard Time (MST) UTC−07:00 and Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) UTC−06:00:
Mountain Standard Time (MST) UTC−07:00 year-round:
Central Standard Time (CST) UTC−06:00 and Central Daylight Time CDT UTC−05:00:
Central Standard Time (CST) UTC−06:00 year-round:
Eastern Standard Time (EST) UTC−05:00 and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) UTC−04:00:
Eastern Standard Time (EST) UTC−05:00 year-round:
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) UTC−04:00 and Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT) UTC−03:00:
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) UTC−04:00 year-round:
Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) UTC−03:30 and Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) UTC−02:30:
This time zone exists because of the location of the island and the fact that it was a separatedominion whentime zones were established. Newfoundland lies squarely in the eastern half of the Atlantic Time Zone, with St. John's being exactly three-and-a-half hours from Greenwich. Since theDominion of Newfoundland was separate from Canada, it had the right to adopt its own time zone when time zones were first created. While the entire province lies west of the standard meridian for a half-hour time zone, 52.5 degrees west longitude, this is also the near exact meridian ofSt. John's, the province's capital and largest city. In 1935, theNewfoundland Commission of Government adopted a Standard Time Act which set standard time across the Dominion of Newfoundland at 3.5 hours behindGreenwich Mean Time (GMT).[16]
Four Canadian cities, by local ordinance, observed daylight saving time in 1916.Brandon, Manitoba, adopted it on 17 April. It was followed byWinnipeg on 23 April,Halifax on 30 April, andHamilton, Ontario, on 4 June.[19]Port Arthur, Ontario, was the first place in the world to introduce it, on 1 July 1908.
Daylight saving time is currently observed in nine 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.[20] Under theConstitution 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)".[21] In a press release, the provincial government stated an intention to maintain alignment of clock time withWashington,Oregon,California, andYukon.[22] 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.[23][24][25] The premier of British Columbia discussed the issue with Yukon premierSandy Silver, who said in October that he needs more consultation with Yukon stakeholders, and with Alberta and Alaska.[26]
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 adopted by the various provinces and territories on the following dates:
Data for Canada fromzone.tab of theIANA time zone database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.
| C.c.* | Coordinates* | TZ* | Comments* | UTC offset | UTC offset DST | Notes | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | +4734−05243 | America/St_Johns | Newfoundland, Labrador (SE) | −03:30 | −02:30 | Areas that use UTC−03:30 with daylight savings time. |  |
| CA | +4439−06336 | America/Halifax | Atlantic – NS (most areas), PE | −04:00 | −03:00 | Areas that use UTC−04:00 with daylight savings time. In addition to NS and PE, also includes two areas of Quebec:Magdalen Islands andListuguj Miꞌgmaq First Nation[39] |  |
| CA | +4612−05957 | America/Glace_Bay | Atlantic – NS (Cape Breton) | −04:00 | −03:00 | Areas that use UTC−04:00 and adopted daylight savings time in 1972. Now in sync with America/Halifax. Likely includes all ofCape Breton Island.[40] |  |
| CA | +4606−06447 | America/Moncton | Atlantic – New Brunswick | −04:00 | −03:00 | Areas that use UTC−04:00 with daylight savings time but prior to 2007 started and ended daylight savings time at 12:01 am rather than 2:00 am. Now in sync with America/Halifax. |  |
| CA | +5320−06025 | America/Goose_Bay | Atlantic – Labrador (most areas) | −04:00 | −03:00 | Areas that use UTC−04:00 with daylight savings time but from 1987–2011 started and ended daylight savings time at 12:01 am rather than 2:00 am. Now in sync with America/Halifax. Until 1966, it observed Newfoundland Time. |  |
| CA | +5125−05707 | America/Blanc-Sablon | AST – QC (Lower North Shore) | −04:00 | −04:00 | Redirects to America/Puerto_Rico. | — |
| PR | +182806−0660622 | America/Puerto_Rico | AST – QC (Lower North Shore) | −04:00 | −04:00 | Areas that have used UTC−04:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970. Legally defined as east of63rd meridian west.[39] |  |
| 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 | Areas that use UTC−05:00 with daylight savings time. Legally, its western boundary is the90th meridian west but in practice, it is not observed byBig Trout Lake. Adoption of daylight savings 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 using 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 | +6344−06828 | America/Iqaluit | Eastern – NU (most areas) | −05:00 | −04:00 | Areas that use UTC−05:00 with daylight savings time but observed Atlantic Time until 1995. Now in sync with America/Toronto. |  |
| CA | America/Pangnirtung | −05:00 | −04:00 | Redirects to America/Iqaluit. | — | ||
| CA | +744144−0944945 | America/Resolute | Central – NU (Resolute) | −06:00 | −05:00 | Areas that use UTC−06:00 with daylight savings time and skipped daylight savings time in 2007. Now in sync with America/Winnipeg. |  |
| CA | +484531−0913718 | America/Atikokan | EST – ON (Atikokan), NU (Coral H) | −05:00 | −05:00 | Redirects to America/Panama Created because it is legally in Central Time but in practice observes EST year-round. | — |
| PA | +0858−07932 | America/Panama | EST – ON (Atikokan), NU (Coral H) | −05:00 | −05:00 | Areas that have used UTC−05:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970. |  |
| CA | +624900−0920459 | America/Rankin_Inlet | Central – NU (central) | −06:00 | −05:00 | Now in sync with America/Winnipeg. |  |
| CA | +4953−09709 | America/Winnipeg | Central – ON (west), Manitoba | −06:00 | −05:00 | Areas that use UTC−06:00 with daylight savings time. In practice, includesBig Trout Lake andDenare Beach, though by law they should be in America/Toronto and America/Regina, respectively. |  |
| CA | America/Rainy_River | −06:00 | −05:00 | Redirects to America/Winnipeg as of version 2022f. Created for places using Central Time that allegedly did not observe daylight savings time from 1967–1973, but this is not well sourced. | — | ||
| CA | +5024−10439 | America/Regina | CST – SK (most areas) | −06:00 | −06:00 | Areas that have used UTC−06:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970. |  |
| CA | +5017−10750 | America/Swift_Current | CST – SK (midwest) | −06:00 | −06:00 | Areas that use UTC−06:00 year-round but used Mountain Time until 1972. Now in sync with America/Regina. |  |
| CA | +5333−11328 | America/Edmonton | Mountain – AB, BC(E), NT(E), SK(W) | −07:00 | −06:00 | Areas that use UTC−07:00 with daylight savings time. |  |
| CA | +690650−1050310 | America/Cambridge_Bay | Mountain – NU (west) | −07:00 | −06:00 | Now in sync with America/Edmonton. |  |
| CA | America/Yellowknife | −07:00 | −06:00 | Redirects to America/Edmonton. | — | ||
| CA | +682059−1334300 | America/Inuvik | Mountain – NT (west) | −07:00 | −06:00 | Areas that use UTC−07:00 with daylight savings time but observed Pacific Time until 1979. Now in sync with America/Edmonton. Defined as areas in NWT west of120th meridian west.[41] |  |
| CA | +4906−11631 | America/Creston | MST – BC (Creston) | −07:00 | −07:00 | Redirects to America/Phoenix. | — |
| US | +332654−1120424 | America/Phoenix | MST – AZ (most areas), Creston BC | −07:00 | −07:00 | Areas that have used UTC−07:00 year-round since the IANA cutoff date in 1970. |  |
| CA | +5546−12014 | America/Dawson_Creek | MST – BC (Dawson Cr, Ft St John) | −07:00 | −07:00 | Areas that use UTC−07:00 year-round but used daylight savings time until 1973. Now in sync with America/Phoenix. |  |
| CA | +5848−12242 | America/Fort_Nelson | MST – BC (Ft Nelson) | −07:00 | −07:00 | Areas that use UTC−07:00 year-round but used daylight savings time until 2015. Now in sync with America/Phoenix. |  |
| CA | +4916−12307 | America/Vancouver | Pacific – BC (most areas) | −08:00 | −07:00 | Areas that use UTC−08:00 with daylight savings time. |  |
| CA | +6043−13503 | America/Whitehorse | MST – Yukon (east) | −07:00 | −07:00 | Areas that use UTC−07:00 year-round but used daylight savings time until 2019. Now in sync with America/Phoenix. |  |
| CA | +6404−13925 | America/Dawson | MST – Yukon (west) | −07:00 | −07:00 | Areas that use UTC−07:00 year-round but observed Pacific Time until 1973 and used daylight savings time until 2019. Now in sync with America/Phoenix. Includes all of Yukon west of138th meridian west.[42] |  |