Time in Canada — regions, cities and time zones

Current time in Ottawa

Ottawa runs on Eastern Time — UTC−5 in winter, UTC−4 when daylight saving is in effect. Canada as a whole spans six time zones, so the capital's clock is only one answer among several.

Six zones from the Atlantic to the Pacific

Canada is wide enough that when the working day is ending in St. John's, it has barely started in Vancouver. The zones, running east to west: Newfoundland Time — UTC−3:30. The half-hour offset is famous, and it is genuinely a half hour, not a rounding error.

Atlantic Time — UTC−4. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Labrador. Eastern Time — UTC−5. Ontario and Quebec, including Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. Central Time — UTC−6. Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, and part of western Ontario.

Mountain Time — UTC−7. Alberta and much of the Northwest Territories. Pacific Time — UTC−8. British Columbia and Yukon. Several provinces are split internally, with the boundary following communities rather than a straight line of longitude. A provincial name alone does not always settle the question.

A Canadian conference call scheduled "for after lunch" needs a province attached, or someone in Vancouver is eating breakfast during it.

Daylight saving, and who skips it

Most of Canada moves its clocks forward in spring and back in autumn, in step with the United States. But the exceptions are real and worth knowing: Saskatchewan stays on one offset year-round rather than switching.

Yukon stopped seasonal changes and now keeps a single offset all year. Scattered communities in British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario and Nunavut follow local arrangements that differ from their province's default.

Because of this, "Canada springs forward" is true in general and wrong in particular places. If you are coordinating with someone in a province that opts out, the gap between you shifts by an hour twice a year even though neither of you moved.

The two capitals problem

Ottawa is the federal capital and sits in Eastern Time, but Canadian business is not centred on it the way it is on Washington or London. Toronto shares Ottawa's clock; Montreal does too. Calgary and Edmonton are two hours behind, Vancouver three. A national broadcast, a market open, or a government deadline stated in Eastern Time means something different at each desk it lands on — which is why Canadian schedules so often carry the zone name in the same breath as the number.

Practical notes for scheduling

A few habits save trouble. Name the zone, not the city, when writing times down. Remember that the Newfoundland half-hour is not optional and not a joke. And check whether the person you are calling is in one of the places that ignores daylight saving before assuming the offset you used last month still holds.