Daylight saving time ends Sunday, but these parts of Canada won’t change their clocks - National Post

Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Sign Out By Gabriela Panza-Beltrandi, National Post October 31, 2026 at 8:11 a.m. Time zones are getting tricky in Canada.

Millions are winding back their clocks, while others are stopping the clock on time changes for the first time.

More and more provinces and territories are moving to permanent daylight saving time, and, for some, it’s the first fall they won’t be falling back.

But it’s a confusing mess of whose clocks are changing Nov. 1, and whose aren’t. And how is this going to affect millions of Canadian’s health?

For the first time, millions in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and parts of Northwestern Ontario will not be setting their clocks back.

Those jurisdictions are scrapping the seasonal time change and staying on daylight saving time as of the start of November.

They’re joining Yukon and Saskatchewan, who’ve already thrown away the time change.

But much of central and eastern Canada will still be falling back Nov. 1, including most of Ontario, Quebec, Nunavut, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Figuring out the time differences between each province and territory is getting more complicated.

With much of the West not changing the clock, in the winter, B.C. and Yukon will be two hours behind the capital of Canada, Ottawa; Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut will be one hour behind; while Manitoba, Ontario, and much of Quebec will be on the same time; part of Newfoundland and Labrador and much of Nova Scotia, along with New Brunswick and P.E.I. will be an hour ahead of Ottawa; while part of Newfoundland and Labrador will be an hour and a half ahead.

In the summer, much of the west will be even further behind Ottawa.

Yukon and B.C. will be three hours behind; Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and parts of Nunavut will be two hours behind; while another chunk of Nunavut, Manitoba, and part of Northwestern Ontario will be an hour behind. Most of Ontario, Quebec, and the rest of Nunavut will be on the same time as Ottawa; then New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and part of Newfoundland and Labrador will be an hour ahead; while, finally, the rest of Newfoundland and Labrador will be an hour-and-a-half ahead.

This could be one of the last times Quebec changes the clock with the seasons.

The province says it’s moving to end seasonal time changes, but hasn’t decided whether to stick with permanent daylight saving or standard time.

And which time they choose could really impact people’s mental and physical health, according to doctors.

“Getting rid of the twice-yearly time changes is good, but we should stick with standard time, not daylight saving time.”

Much of Western Canada is staying on daylight saving time, something doctors warn could be worse for people’s health.

“What you’re going to have, especially in the wintertime, is not very much light, particularly as people wake up and commute to work and school, and it’s going to take that light in the morning and put it into the afternoon or into the evening.”

“It’s sort of the opposite of what we want. Like, having lots of light in the evening makes it hard for us to sleep, and not having light in the morning makes it hard for us to have a good mood and have lower energy.”

Doctors warn staying on permanent daylight saving time could lead to miserable winters and summers.

“People are going to be more tired in the mornings. They might see more seasonal depression in the winter months. In the summertime we anticipate more interrupted sleep, and in the winter months we’re going to see more maybe depression, maybe more fatigue during the daytime.”

For now, Canadians in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, and parts of Northwestern Ontario will have to adjust to not adjusting their clocks this year.

And with more provinces and territories showing an interest in clocking out from seasonal time changes, even more could be adopting one permanent time in the future.

I’m Gabriela Panza-Beltrandi and this is Spelled Out.

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