Time in Canada


is divided into six time zones, based on proposals by Scottish Canadian railway engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, who pioneered the use of the 24-hour clock, the world's time zone system, and a standard prime meridian. Most of Canada operates on standard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March and daylight saving time the rest of the year.

Official time

The National Research Council maintains Canada's official time through the use of atomic clocks. The NRC makes time servers available for direct synchronization with computers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has aired a daily time signal, the National Research Council Time Signal, since November 5, 1939.

Time notation

The Government of Canada recommends use of the 24-hour clock, 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 users of Canadian English use the 12-hour clock in everyday speech, even when reading from a 24-hour display, similar to the use of the 24-hour clock in the United Kingdom.

Zones

Pacific Time Zone

and Pacific Daylight Time :
Pacific Daylight Time UTC−07:00 year-round:
UTC−07:00 and Mountain Daylight Time :
Mountain Standard Time UTC−07:00 year-round:
UTC−06:00 and Central Daylight Time CDT :
Central Standard Time UTC−06:00 year-round:
UTC−05:00 and Eastern Daylight Time :
Eastern Standard Time UTC−05:00 year-round:
UTC−04:00 and Atlantic Daylight Time :
Atlantic Standard Time UTC−04:00 year-round:
and Newfoundland Daylight Time :
Four Canadian cities, by local ordinance, used Daylight Saving Time in 1916. Brandon, Manitoba on April 17 became the first place in the world to use it. It was followed by Winnipeg on April 23, Halifax on April 30, and Hamilton, Ontario on June 4.
Daylight saving time is currently observed in all ten provinces and three territories but with several exceptions in several provinces and Nunavut, including most of Saskatchewan, which despite geographically being in the Mountain Time Zone observes year-round CST. 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 October 31, 2019, the government introduced Bill 40 in the legislature, which would define "Pacific Time" as "7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time ". 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.
The latest United States change, adding parts of March and November starting in 2007, was adopted by the various provinces and territories on the following dates:
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 offsetUTC offset DSTNotes
-----
Plus Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Listuguj Miꞌgmaq First Nation in Quebec.-----
Likely includes all of Cape Breton Island.-----
Like America/Halifax, except DST time change happens at midnight rather than 2:00 a.m.-----
Places that used Newfoundland Time until 1966.-----
East of 63rd meridian west.-----
Redirects to America/Toronto.-----
Legally, its western border is 90th meridian west, but there are many de facto exceptions.-----
Places using Eastern time that did not observe DST 1967–1973.-----
Places in Eastern Time that skipped DST in 1973.-----
-----
Places that switched from Atlantic Time to Eastern Time in 1995.-----
Places in Central Time that skipped DST in 2007.-----
Legally CST/CDT, but in practice observes EST year-round.-----
-----
Includes Big Trout Lake and Denare Beach, though by law they should be in America/Toronto and America/Regina, respectively.-----
Places using Central time that did not observe DST 1967–1973.-----
-----
Western Saskatchewan towns that used Mountain Time until 1972.-----
-----
-----
East of 120th meridian west.-----
West of 120th meridian west.-----
Places in Pacific Time that have not used DST since the database cuttoff date.-----
Places in Pacific Time that stopped using DST in 1973.-----
-----
East of 138th meridian west.-----
West of 138th meridian west.-----