What time is it in Canada?
GMT-5 / GMT-4 · America/Toronto
Back to CanadaNow in Ottawa
GMT-5 UTC-05:00
UTC-05:00
UTC-04:00 in summerEastern Standard Time
Canada spans five time zones, Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central and Mountain, and each province sets its own time by law. Most of the east, Ontario and Quebec included, moves its clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November, on the same dates as the United States. In 2026 British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories stopped changing their clocks, joining Saskatchewan and Yukon, so the west now keeps one time all year while the east still changes twice.
Today
Daylight in Ottawa today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 06:59First light 06:29
- Sunset
- 18:46Last light 19:16
- Day length
- 11 h 48 min−3 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 12:52Sun at 42°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in Canada and elsewhere
The two rows are the same day, hour for hour. Pick a city, then an hour, and the line between the rows marks the office hours both sides share.
Time difference
How far Canada is from other places
Neighbours
- United StatesWashington, D.C.Same time
Around the world
- London+5 h
- Los Angeles−3 h
- São Paulo+1 h
- Moscow+7 h
- Dubai+8 h
- Delhi+9:30 h
- Beijing+12 h
- Tokyo+13 h
- Sydney+14 h
Clock changes
When the clocks change in Canada
Next change
Sunday, 1 November 2026
Clocks go back one hour: at 02:00 it becomes 01:00 GMT-5, UTC-05:00. The night is an hour longer.
| Year | Clocks go forward | Clocks go back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 8 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 1 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2027 | 14 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 7 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2028 | 12 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 5 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2029 | 11 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 4 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2030 | 10 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 3 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
Port Arthur, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time on 1 July 1908, and in 1916 Brandon, Winnipeg, Halifax and Hamilton adopted it by local ordinance. Since the late 1960s the provinces that change their clocks have followed the United States: when it moved the start to the first Sunday in April in 1987 they followed, and when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 added weeks in March and November from 2007 they adopted that too. Newfoundland tried double daylight time in 1988, from 3 April to 30 October, and never repeated it. The west began to drop the change in the 2020s. Yukon stopped in 2020; Alberta held a referendum in 2021 in which 50.24% voted to keep switching; British Columbia, after a consultation in 2019 that drew more than 223,000 responses, stopped on 8 March 2026, and Alberta and the Northwest Territories moved to permanent Central time in April 2026. Manitoba announced on 17 September 2026 that it would do the same on Eastern time.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Ottawa
- Sunrise
- 06:59
- Sunset
- 18:46
- Daylight
- 11 h 48 min
- Change
- −3 min
Longest day of 2026: 20 June, 15 h 41 min.
Computed for 45.42, -75.69 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 24-hour
- Short date
- 2026-03-05
- Long date
- 5 mars 2026
- Week starts
- Sunday
- Zone names
- GMT-5 / GMT-4
- Time zone database
- Toronto
History
How the clocks in Canada got here
- 1890
- To 1894.Local mean time, UTC-05:17, before the standard zone.
- 1895
- To 1917.UTC-05:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1918
- To 1939.UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
- 1940
- UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
- 1941
- To 1944.Summer time kept through the winter: UTC-04:00 all year.
- 1945
- UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
- 1946
- To today.UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, America/Toronto, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in Canada
What time zones does Canada have?
Five: Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central and Mountain. Newfoundland keeps UTC−3:30 in winter, the only half-hour offset in the country. The Pacific zone of UTC−8 fell out of use in 2026, when British Columbia moved to year-round UTC−7, which its government calls Pacific Time and Yukon calls Yukon Standard Time. Several zones are split between areas that change their clocks and areas that do not.
When do the clocks change in Canada in 2026?
In the provinces that still change, clocks went forward at 02:00 on Sunday 8 March 2026 and go back at 02:00 on Sunday 1 November. In 2027 the dates are 14 March and 7 November. The rule is the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, the same as in the United States.
Which provinces do not change their clocks?
Saskatchewan keeps the same time all year, and Yukon stopped changing in 2020. British Columbia stopped on 8 March 2026, and Alberta and the Northwest Territories moved to permanent Central time in April 2026. Manitoba announced a move to permanent Eastern time in September 2026. Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces, Newfoundland and most of Nunavut still change twice a year.
Is Vancouver still three hours behind Toronto?
Only in summer. Since 8 March 2026 British Columbia has stayed on UTC−7 all year, while Toronto moves between UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer. From March to November the gap is three hours, as it always was; from November to March it is now two, because Vancouver no longer falls back an hour with the rest of the country.
Who set up Canada's time zones?
The divisions follow proposals by Sandford Fleming, a Scottish Canadian railway engineer who promoted a worldwide system of time zones, a standard prime meridian and the 24-hour clock. Today the National Research Council keeps Canada's official time on atomic clocks, while the legal time in each province is fixed by provincial law.
Do Canadians use the 24-hour clock?
The federal government recommends it, and it is used on transport timetables, parking meters and in data. French speakers use it in everyday life. Most English speakers say the time on the 12-hour clock, as 5:15 pm, even when they read it off a 24-hour display.
Canada has 23 zones; this page reads the capital’s. All figures