Minus 13 one day and plus 13 the next – Mother Nature must be having a hard time figuring out what season it is!

But one thing is for sure, it’s time to start thinking about putting our clocks ahead to Daylight Time.

Daylight Saving Time starts officially this Sunday, March 11th, at 2:00 a.m. local time, for most parts of Canada, the United States and Mexico. There are exceptions, of course.

In Canada, time is under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, not federal. Since at least the 1970s, all provinces and territories have matched their DST start and end dates to those used in the United States, and when the U.S. Congress changed the rules effective 2007 the provinces and territories (except Saskatchewan) changed their time legislation to match. Since 2007, DST in Canada starts on the second Sunday in March, and returns to standard time on the first Sunday of November, to coincide with the U.S. dates. Most of Saskatchewan does not technically observe DST but rather observes a skewed ‘standard time’ that has been advanced one hour forward permanently (that is, observing what is sometimes known as ‘year-round DST’).

Most of British Columbia (BC) is on Pacific Time and observes DST. However there are two main exceptions:

Part of the Peace River Regional District of BC (including the communities of Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Hudson’s Hope, Fort St. John, Taylor and Tumbler Ridge) is on Mountain Time and does not observe DST. This means that the region would be on the same time as Mountain Time in the winter, and Pacific Time in the summer.

The East Kootenay region of south-eastern BC (including the communities of Cranbrook, Fernie, Golden and Invermere) is on Mountain Time and observes DST. This means that the region is always on the same time as Edmonton, Alberta. One exception in this region is Creston, which observes MST year round. Time in Creston is therefore the same as Edmonton in the winter, and Vancouver in the summer.

While the rest of Nunavut observes DST, Southampton Island including Coral Harbour remain on Eastern Standard Time throughout the year.

Most of Ontario uses DST. Pickle Lake, New Osnaburgh, and Atikokan, three communities located within the Central Time Zone in Northwestern Ontario, all observe Daylight saving time all year long. (This has the effect of having them on Central Time during the summer tourist season, and Eastern Time during the winter—without ever changing their clocks.)

Most of Quebec observes DST. However, the eastern reaches of Quebec’s North Shore, east of 63° west longitude, are in the Atlantic Time Zone, but do not observe DST. The effect is that in summer their clocks match those of the rest of the province, while in November, their clocks are rejoined by their Atlantic Standard Time neighbours. Although places east of 63° west are officially on Atlantic Time, local custom is to use Eastern Time as far east as the Natashquan River. Those communities observe DST, including all of Anticosti Island, which is bisected by the 63rd meridian.

Although the entire province of Saskatchewan is geographically within the MST (UTC-7) zone, the province is officially part of the Central time zone (UTC-6) but does not observe Daylight Saving Time. This time zone designation was implemented in 1966, when the Saskatchewan Time Act was passed in order to standardize time province-wide.

The charter of the city of Lloydminster, which is bisected by the Saskatchewan–Alberta boundary, gives it a special exemption. Lloydminster and the immediately surrounding region in Saskatchewan observe the same time as Alberta: Mountain Standard Time with officially sanctioned seasonal daylight saving. Along the Manitoba border, the small, remote Saskatchewan towns of Denare Beach and Creighton unofficially observe DST in the central time zone, thereby keeping the same time as larger neighbouring Manitoba communities.

No wonder Mother Nature gets confused at this time of year!

Share This!