Daylight saving time in Canada
Canada observes daylight saving time. Clocks move forward at the start of daylight saving time and move back when daylight saving time ends.
The next daylight saving transition in Canada is on November 1, 2026, when clocks move backward by 1 hour.
DST schedule — recent & upcoming years
Spring-forward and fall-back dates in Canada.
- 2025DST start (spring forward)Mar 9, 2025,DST end (fall back)Nov 2, 2025,
- 2026DST start (spring forward)Mar 8, 2026,DST end (fall back)Nov 1, 2026,
- 2027DST start (spring forward)Mar 14, 2027,DST end (fall back)Nov 7, 2027,
- 2028DST start (spring forward)Mar 12, 2028,DST end (fall back)Nov 5, 2028,
| Year | DST start (spring forward) | DST end (fall back) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mar 9, 2025, | Nov 2, 2025, |
| 2026 | Mar 8, 2026, | Nov 1, 2026, |
| 2027 | Mar 14, 2027, | Nov 7, 2027, |
| 2028 | Mar 12, 2028, | Nov 5, 2028, |
Frequently Asked Questions
Canada observes daylight saving time. Clocks move forward at the start of daylight saving time and move back when daylight saving time ends.
The next daylight saving transition in Canada is on November 1, 2026, when clocks move backward by 1 hour.
The primary IANA identifier for Canada is America/Toronto. Operating systems and APIs use this identifier to compute the correct local time.
Clocks move forward by one hour when daylight saving time starts (commonly called "spring forward") and move back by one hour when it ends ("fall back").
Daylight saving time was originally introduced to align daylight hours with typical working hours during summer. Most countries that still observe DST do so by legislation; several have debated or introduced proposals to abolish it.
All DST transition dates come from the IANA Time Zone Database (tzdata), which is the authoritative source used by operating systems worldwide. Dates refresh on every IANA release.