Time in Canada: Not so standard

As this November began, daylight saving time (DST) came to an end, though not necessarily for all Canadians. 

Among the provinces and territories, Saskatchewan and Yukon were among the first to do away with seasonal time changes. This year, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories have also decided to keep their clocks the same year-round. 

Meanwhile, most of eastern Canada and Nunavut will continue changing their clocks twice a year. Most of Ontario will also keep changing the clocks, at least until Quebec and New York state make similar changes, making Canada’s time zones more of a patchwork quilt than ever.   

The familiar saying “spring forward, fall back” is a handy way to remember how the clocks change twice a year: forward one hour in the spring and back one hour in the fall.

When DST ends, clocks turn back one hour at 2:00 a.m. Have you ever wondered how many Canadians are awake when the clocks change? According to data from 2022, most (94%) Canadians were asleep at 2:00 a.m. on an average night.

The select few night owls who were still awake then would have been among the first to see the clock turn (confusingly) from 1:59 a.m. back to 1:00 a.m.

For Canadians who still turn their clocks back, the end of DST comes with a small bonus: an extra hour. And who couldn’t use a little more time? In 2022, more than half (56%) of Canadians reported feeling stressed because they didn’t have enough time, while nearly half (48%) reported they tend to cut back on sleep.  

That extra hour might be a welcome chance to sleep in. In 2022, more than half of Canadians were awake by 7 a.m. on weekdays and by 8 a.m. on weekends. Approximately one in four Canadians were asleep at 9 a.m. on the weekends, while about one in five Canadians aged 15 to 34 years didn’t rise before 11 a.m.

New sleep data covering the years from 2022 to 2024 from the Canadian Health Measures Survey will be released in 2027.