Ontario to split into two time zones as daylight-saving ends this weekend

Most of Ontario will turn clocks back one hour on Sunday, ending daylight-saving time, while the province’s northwestern region will stay on the current time, resulting in two time zones within the province.

The change follows a broader shift in several western Canadian provinces and territories, including Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and most of British Columbia, which have adopted permanent daylight time and no longer adjust clocks twice a year.

Ontario’s government passed the Time Amendment Act in 2020 to align the entire province with a single time-keeping system, but the legislation requires coordinated action by Quebec and the U.S. state of New York to take effect. An Ontario attorney-general news release emphasized the need for synchronicity with trading partners for commerce, stock markets and broadcasting.

Quebec plans to end the seasonal clock change after this year, according to Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s recent Facebook post. In New York, Republican Senator Joe Griffo has introduced a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, and the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a companion measure, though Senate approval is still pending.

"There's no first-mover advantage to changing time before everybody else does," said Patrick Baylis, associate professor of economics at the University of British Columbia.

"The Congress, under the Uniform Time Act, has, ultimately, determination to tell us what time we can be on," Griffo told CBC Toronto.

If neither Quebec nor New York adopts permanent daylight time, Ontario will continue operating with an Eastern-time zone in most of the province and a Central-time zone west of the 90th meridian in its northwestern area.