Time to spring forward? It depends where you live

In B.C. and Ontario, there's been public chatter about doing away with time changes for years. In Saskatchewan, most people have never changed their clocks. Here's a primer on where each of the provinces and territories stand.

British Columbia passed legislation in 2019 to move to year-round daylight time "at a time that maintains alignment with Washington, Oregon, California and Yukon," the B.C. government said in a media release. There are parts of B.C. that do not change their clocks: the northeastern Peace region and the southeastern town of Creston. They are aligned with Alberta (Mountain Standard Time) in the winter and B.C. (Pacific Daylight Time) in the summer. 

Alberta held a binding referendum on Oct. 18, 2021, on whether to continue changing clocks twice a year. Albertans voted 50.2 per cent in favour of continuing the practice.

Saskatchewan does not change its clocks and remains on Central Standard Time year-round, meaning it's aligned with Alberta in the summer and Manitoba in the winter. Only the city of Lloydminster, which straddles the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, follows Mountain Standard Time in the winter.

Manitoba introduced legislation to adopt permanent daylight time in 2022, but only if the U.S. does so as well. 

Ontario passed legislation in 2020 to adopt permanent daylight time, but only if Quebec and New York state do so as well. 

Quebec held an online public consultation about whether to abolish time changes and which system to adopt, in the fall and winter of 2024. Officials are reviewing the responses, the Quebec Ministry of Justice said in a statement.

Atlantic premiers mused publicly about adopting permanent daylight time in 2022, but said they would not pursue it unless others take the lead, noting that any change would likely involve the entire region.

Yukon moved to permanent daylight time (now called Yukon Time) in 2020 and no longer changes the clocks. It is aligned with Alberta in the winter and B.C. in the summer.

Northwest Territories held a public consultation on whether to end time changes in 2022. Survey respondents voted 87 per cent in favour of abolishing the changes, with just over half (53.2 per cent) voting to stay on daylight time year-round. The territorial government has yet to announce whether it will make the transition. 

Nunavut changes its clocks twice a year, except for Southampton Island, which remains on Eastern Standard Time year-round.