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Time in Canada

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Time zones in Canada
StandardDSTTime zone
UTC−08:00UTC−07:00Pacific
UTC−07:00 (year round)Mountain
UTC−07:00UTC−06:00Mountain
UTC−06:00 (year round)Central
UTC−06:00UTC−05:00Central
UTC−05:00 (year round)Eastern
UTC−05:00UTC−04:00Eastern
UTC−04:00 (year round)Atlantic
UTC−04:00UTC−03:00Atlantic
UTC−03:30UTC−02:30Newfoundland

Canada is divided into sixtime zones.Most areas ofthe country's provinces and territoriesoperate onstandard timefrom the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March anddaylight saving timethe rest of the year.[1]

The divisions between time zones are based on proposals byScottish Canadianrailway engineerSandford Fleming,who pioneered the use of the24-hour clock,the world's time zone system, and a standardprime meridian.[2]

Official time[edit]

Main article:National Research Council Time Signal
National Research Council laboratories inOttawa

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][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]The NRC provides both coordinated universal time and mean solar time in its signals.[15]It makestime serversavailable for direct synchronization with computers. TheCanadian Broadcasting Corporationaired a dailytime signal,theNational Research Council Time Signal,beginning November 5, 1939.[16]The signal was discontinued on October 15, 2023.[17]

Time notation[edit]

Canadian Nationaltimetable from 1975 using the 24-hour clock
Main article:Date and time notation in Canada § Time

TheGovernment of Canadarecommends use of the24-hour clock(e.g. 04:01), which is widely used in contexts such as transportation schedules, parking meters, and data transmission.[18]Speakers ofCanadian Frenchpredominantly use this system, but mostCanadian Englishspeakers use the12-hour clockin everyday speech (e.g. 4:01 am), even when reading from a 24-hour display, similar to the use of the24-hour clock in the United Kingdom.

Zones[edit]

Pacific Time Zone[edit]

Pacific Standard Time(PST) GMT−08:00 and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) GMT−07:00:

Mountain Time Zone[edit]

Mountain Standard Time(MST) GMT−07:00 and Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) GMT−06:00:

Mountain Standard Time (MST) GMT−07:00 year-round:

Central Time Zone[edit]

Central Standard Time(CST) GMT−06:00 and Central Daylight Time CDT GMT−05:00:

Central Standard Time (CST) GMT−06:00 year-round:

  • Saskatchewan(most of the province)(see Lloydminster, and Creighton, above)

Eastern Time Zone[edit]

Eastern Standard Time(EST) GMT−05:00 and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) GMT−04:00:

  • Nunavut
  • Ontario
    • east of 90° West (except the Big Trout Lake area), plus
    • west of 90° West:ShebandowanandUpsalaareas
  • Quebec(most of province)
    • Areas ofLabradoradjacent toSchefferville(in Quebec but very close to the Labrador border) observe EST and DST unofficially

Eastern Standard Time (EST) GMT−05:00 year-round:

Atlantic Time Zone[edit]

Atlantic Standard Time(AST) GMT−04:00 and Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT) GMT−03:00:

Atlantic Standard Time (AST) UTC−04:00 year-round:

Newfoundland Time Zone[edit]

Newfoundland Standard Time(NST) GMT−03:30 and Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) GMT−02:30:

Former time zones[edit]

  • TheYukon Time Zone(GMT−09:00) covered Yukon from 1900 until 1966. In 1983, the zone (then covering only a small portion of Alaska) was restructured to cover most of Alaska and renamed theAlaska Time Zone.
  • In 1988, Newfoundland observed "double daylight saving time" from April 3 until October 30, meaning that the time was set ahead by 2 hours.[22]All of Newfoundland and southern Labrador, which observes GMT−03:30 as its standard time zone, observed GMT−01:30.[23]This only happened in 1988 and the province now only adjusts its time by one hour for daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time[edit]

Main article:Daylight saving time in Canada

Four Canadian cities, by local ordinance, observed daylight saving time in 1916.Brandon, Manitoba,adopted it on April 17. It was followed byWinnipegon April 23,Halifaxon April 30, andHamilton, Ontario,on June 4.[24]Port Arthur, Ontario,was the first place in the world to introduce it, on July 1, 1908.

Daylight saving timeis 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.[25]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 October 31, 2019, the government introduced Bill 40 in the legislature, which would define "Pacific Time" as "7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)".[26]In a press release, the provincial government stated an intention to maintain alignment of clock time withWashington,Oregon,California,andYukon.[27]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.[28][29][30]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.[31]

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:

  • Ontario[32]and Manitoba[33]– October 20, 2005
  • Quebec – December 5, 2005[34]
  • Prince Edward Island – December 6, 2005[35]
  • New Brunswick – December 23, 2005[36]
  • Alberta – February 2, 2006[37]
  • Northwest Territories – March 4, 2006[38]
  • British Columbia – March 31, 2006[39]
  • Nova Scotia – April 25, 2006[40]
  • Yukon – July 14, 2006.[41]Year-round MST as of March 8, 2020.[25]
  • Newfoundland and Labrador – November 20, 2006, but officially announced on January 18, 2007[42]
  • Nunavut – February 19, 2007[43]
  • Saskatchewan – No official action was taken, as almost all of the province remains on CST year-round. However, the few places in the province thatdoobserve daylight saving (Lloydminster and the surrounding area, which straddles the Alberta border and observes Alberta's Mountain Time – and Creighton, which observes daylight saving on an unofficial basis due to its proximity to the border with Manitoba) follow the aforementioned March–November schedule just like the other provinces and territories.

IANA time zone database[edit]

Data for Canada fromzone.tabof 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 9610196onOpenStreetMap
CA +4439−06336 America/Halifax Atlantic - NS (most areas), PE −04:00 −03:00 In addition to NS and PE, also includes two areas of Quebec:Magdalen IslandsandListuguj Miꞌgmaq First Nation[44] 10441414onOpenStreetMap
CA +4612−05957 America/Glace_Bay Atlantic - NS (Cape Breton) −04:00 −03:00 Like America/Halifax, but did not adopt DST until 1972. Likely includes all ofCape Breton Island[45] 10438273onOpenStreetMap
CA +4606−06447 America/Moncton Atlantic - New Brunswick −04:00 −03:00 Like America/Halifax, except DST time change happened at 12:01 am rather than 2:00 am prior to 2007. 10432327onOpenStreetMap
CA +5320−06025 America/Goose_Bay Atlantic - Labrador (most areas) −04:00 −03:00 Like America/Halifax, except DST time change happened at 12:01 am rather than 2:00 am from 1987–2011. (Also observed Newfoundland Time until 1966.) 2049110onOpenStreetMap
CA +5125−05707 America/Blanc-Sablon AST - QC (Lower North Shore) −04:00 −04:00 Redirects to America/Puerto_Rico

East of63rd meridian west[44]

15097517onOpenStreetMap
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 Legally includes all of Ontario east of90th meridian westbut in practice only applied to urban areas until 1974 6483867onOpenStreetMap
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.

6483867onOpenStreetMap
CA America/Thunder_Bay −05:00 −04:00 –

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 6451459onOpenStreetMap
CA America/Pangnirtung −05:00 −04:00 Redirects to America/Iqaluit

Places that switched from Atlantic Time to Eastern Time in 1995

—
CA +744144−0944945 America/Resolute Central - NU (Resolute) −06:00 −05:00 Places in Central Time that skipped DST in 2007 6446190onOpenStreetMap
CA +484531−0913718 America/Atikokan EST - ON (Atikokan), NU (Coral H) −05:00 −05:00 Redirects to America/Panama

Legally Central Time but in practice observes EST year-round.

16602909onOpenStreetMap
CA +624900−0920459 America/Rankin_Inlet Central - NU (central) −06:00 −05:00 6446189onOpenStreetMap
CA +4953−09709 America/Winnipeg Central - ON (west), Manitoba −06:00 −05:00 In practice includesBig Trout LakeandDenare Beach,though by law they should be in America/Toronto and America/Regina, respectively. 6442822onOpenStreetMap
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 DST 1967–1973.

—
CA +5024−10439 America/Regina CST - SK (most areas) −06:00 −06:00 6442821onOpenStreetMap
CA +5017−10750 America/Swift_Current CST - SK (midwest) −06:00 −06:00 Western Saskatchewan towns that observed Mountain Time until 1972. 10424167onOpenStreetMap
CA +5333−11328 America/Edmonton Mountain - AB, BC(E), NT(E), SK(W) −07:00 −06:00 6442820onOpenStreetMap
CA +690650−1050310 America/Cambridge_Bay Mountain - NU (west) −07:00 −06:00 6446170onOpenStreetMap
CA +6227−11421 America/Yellowknife −07:00 −06:00 Redirects to America/Edmonton

East of120th meridian west[46]

—
CA +682059−1334300 America/Inuvik Mountain - NT (west) −07:00 −06:00 West of120th meridian west[46] 10553994onOpenStreetMap
CA +4906−11631 America/Creston MST - BC (Creston) −07:00 −07:00 Redirects to America/Phoenix

Places in Pacific Time that have not observed DST since the database cut-off date (1970)

6446092onOpenStreetMap
CA +5546−12014 America/Dawson_Creek MST - BC (Dawson Cr, Ft St John) −07:00 −07:00 Places in Mountain Time that stopped using DST in 1973 6483979onOpenStreetMap
CA +5848−12242 America/Fort_Nelson MST - BC (Ft Nelson) −07:00 −07:00 Places in Mountain Time that stopped using DST in 2015. 10424947onOpenStreetMap
CA +4916−12307 America/Vancouver Pacific - BC (most areas) −08:00 −07:00 6483981onOpenStreetMap
CA +6043−13503 America/Whitehorse MST - Yukon (east) −07:00 −07:00 East of138th meridian west[47] 10465808onOpenStreetMap
CA +6404−13925 America/Dawson MST - Yukon (west) −07:00 −07:00 West of138th meridian west[47] 10441037onOpenStreetMap

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Includes the associatedCantung MineandTungsten (Cantung) Airport[19][1]
  2. ^Prairie Creek Airport,operated by Canadian Zinc, in southwest NWT, is shown as observing PST/PDT. North of Sixty Fishing Camps (Obre Lake/North of Sixty Airport) and Kasba Lake Lodge (Kasba Lake Airport) are shown as operating on CST/CDT.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcCanada Flight Supplement.Effective 0901Z16 July 2020 to 0901Z 10 September 2020.
  2. ^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.
  3. ^"NRC time services".National Research Council.Archivedfrom the original on 20 July 2018.Retrieved20 July2018.
  4. ^National Assembly (1 January 2007)."Legal Time Act 2006".Retrieved21 September2020.
  5. ^Minister of Justice (26 February 2015)."Interpretation Act R.S.C., 1985"(PDF).Retrieved21 September2020.This Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-21, section 35(1) refers to 'standard time' for the several provinces, defining each in relation to 'Greenwich time', but does not use the expression 'Greenwich mean time'.
  6. ^Alberta Queen's Printer (1 January 2007)."Daylight Saving Time Act, RSA 2000".Retrieved21 September2020.
  7. ^Queen's Printer (5 April 2016)."Interpretation Act, RSBC 1996".Retrieved21 September2020.
  8. ^Manitoba (1 February 1988)."The Official Time Act".Retrieved21 September2020.
  9. ^Queen's Printer for New Brunswick (1 September 2011)."Time Definition Act 2011"(PDF).Retrieved21 September2020.
  10. ^Queen's Printer, St John's (2012)."Standard Time Act RSNL 1990".Retrieved21 September2020.By §2(1) "Time in the province shall be reckoned as 3 1/2 hours later [sic] than Greenwich mean solar time."
  11. ^Office of the Legislative Counsel (22 September 1998)."Time Definition Act".Retrieved21 September2020.
  12. ^Queen's Printer for Ontario (31 December 1990)."Time Act, R.S.O. 1990".Retrieved21 September2020.
  13. ^Legislative Counsel Office (2 December 2015)."Interpretation Act 1988"(PDF).Retrieved21 September2020.
  14. ^The Queen's Printer (26 February 1978)."The Time Act 1978"(PDF).Retrieved21 September2020.
  15. ^National Research Council (28 July 2020)."DUT1 announcement".Retrieved21 September2020.
  16. ^Bartlett, Geoff (5 November 2014)."'The beginning of the long dash' indicates 75 years of official time on CBC ".CBC News.Archivedfrom the original on 5 November 2019.Retrieved20 July2018.
  17. ^Taekema, Dan (October 10, 2023)."The end of the long dash: CBC stops broadcasting official time signal".CBC News.RetrievedNovember 27,2023.
  18. ^Collishaw, Barbara (2002)."FAQs on Writing the Time of Day".Terminology Update.35(3): 11.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-07-14.Retrieved2018-07-20.
  19. ^"Inside Cantung, the mine that keeps on giving".Yukon News.March 8, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on October 16, 2014.RetrievedJune 21,2019.
  20. ^Buckle, Anne (21 September 2015)."New Time Zone in Fort Nelson".Time and Date.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-04.Retrieved21 September2020.
  21. ^abLegal time in QuébecArchived2011-12-11 at theWayback Machine,Ministry of Justice of Quebec,April 20, 2015.
  22. ^Benesh, Peter (1988-06-21)."Daylight Almost Until Midnight: Newfoundland Tries out Double Daylight-Saving Time".Orlando Sentinel.Retrieved2020-02-02.
  23. ^Order re: Newfoundland Double Daylight Savings Time, 1988. O.C. 1404/87.Newfoundland Gazette,1988-02-19, page 67.
  24. ^Doris Chase Doane,Time Changes in Canada and Mexico,2nd edition, 1972.
  25. ^abGovernment of Yukon (March 4, 2020)."Yukon to end seasonal time change".RetrievedSeptember 23,2020.
  26. ^"Bill 40 – 2019: Interpretation Amendment Act, 2019".Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-11-03.Retrieved2019-11-03.
  27. ^"Interpretation amendment act sets stage for year-round daylight time"(PDF)(Press release). British Columbia Office of the Premier / Ministry of Attorney General. 2019-10-31.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2019-11-03.Retrieved2019-11-03.
  28. ^Chan, Cheryl (2019-09-11)."B.C. survey shows overwhelming support for permanent Daylight Saving Time".Vancouver Sun.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-11-03.Retrieved2019-11-03.
  29. ^"Daylight Saving Time Public Consultation: Final Report"(PDF).2019.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2019-09-11.Retrieved2019-11-03.
  30. ^"B.C.'s daylight saving survey gets more public engagement than marijuana regulation".CBC News.2019-07-05.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-07-07.Retrieved2019-11-03.
  31. ^Plonka, Gabrielle (2019-10-01)."B.C. premier meets with Silver, grand chief".Whitehorse Daily Star.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-11-02.Retrieved2019-11-03.
  32. ^"Time Act".Archivedfrom the original on 2013-12-02.Retrieved2013-11-25.
  33. ^Province Introduces Legislation that Would Extend Daylight Saving Time in ManitobaArchived2016-07-23 at theWayback Machine(The Official Time Amendment ActArchived2006-05-28 at theWayback Machine,The Official Time ActArchived2005-11-09 at theWayback Machine)
  34. ^"Bill n°2: Legal Time Act".Archivedfrom the original on 2012-11-20.Retrieved2012-02-14.
  35. ^"An Act to Amend the Time Uniformity Act"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2006-08-23.Retrieved2006-07-27.
  36. ^"Changes to daylight saving time in New Brunswick in 2007 (05/12/23)".Archivedfrom the original on 2006-09-01.Retrieved2006-05-18.
  37. ^Alberta sees the light with a timely announcement
  38. ^Daylight Saving Time RegulationsArchived2014-04-19 at theWayback Machine
  39. ^"New Daylight Saving Time Takes Effect in 2007".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-04-11.Retrieved2006-05-18.
  40. ^"Nova Scotia to Change Daylight Saving Time".Archivedfrom the original on 2017-09-23.Retrieved2017-09-16.
  41. ^Yukon To Adopt Extended Daylight Saving Time Starting March 2007Archived2013-10-09 at theWayback Machine
  42. ^"An Act Respecting Standard Time and Daylight Time in the Province".Archivedfrom the original on 2012-10-20.Retrieved2013-11-25.
  43. ^"Nunavut News/North" Nunavut to follow new seasonal time standard "".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-12-02.Retrieved2013-11-25.
  44. ^abLegal Time Act,CQLR c T-5.1, s 2.
  45. ^Internet Assigned Numbers Authority."tzdb data for North and Central America and environs".Retrieved21 September2020.
  46. ^abInterpretation Act,SC 1967–68, c 7, s 28, "standard time".
  47. ^abInterpretation Ordinance,YCO 1967/59.

External links[edit]

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