Clocks fall back November 1: when daylight saving time ends in Canada – and who’s skipping it

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1, 2026 – at 2 a.m., clocks across most of Canada fall back one hour to 1 a.m., returning the country to standard time and giving everyone an extra hour of sleep.

The rules – and this year’s twist

By the National Research Council’s standard, clocks move forward on the second Sunday of March and back on the first Sunday of November – which makes November 1 the earliest possible fall-back date.

The twist this year: much of the West is skipping it. British Columbia moved to permanent daylight saving time after its final spring-forward in March 2026 — on November 1, clocks there stay put, the provincial government confirmed. Alberta is doing the same: beginning November 2026 the province remains on Alberta Time year-round, with no fall back. Manitoba and the Northwest Territories have also dropped the twice-yearly change this year, while most of Saskatchewan runs on central standard time year-round and Yukon has been on a fixed schedule since 2020.

Parts of northwestern Ontario — the Central-time communities from English River to the Manitoba border — will also skip the fall back after the province’s October 13 announcement. The rest of Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces still change their clocks as usual.

What changes after November 1

Sunrise and sunset both shift an hour earlier – sunset in Toronto slides from about 6 p.m. before the change to around 4:45 p.m. by late November (timeanddate.com). The trade: brighter mornings, darker evenings, and the semi-annual debate about whether Canada should follow BC and stop changing the clocks altogether. Ontario has passed legislation to end the twice-yearly switch, but only once Quebec and New York State do the same – so for now, the rest of the country keeps springing forward and falling back.

Plan around it: reminder posts, seasonal shifts – and one more hour on November 1. See also: statutory holidays in Canada – the next one after Remembrance Day is Christmas.

Updated and corrected October 25, 2026: This report now lists every jurisdiction staying on daylight time this fall — British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, plus parts of northwestern Ontario’s Central time zone — confirmed against the BC, Alberta, Manitoba and NWT governments’ announcements and the National Research Council. An earlier version said Ontario still changes its clocks as usual; on October 13, 2026, the province announced that Central-time communities from English River to the Manitoba border will move to permanent daylight time on November 1.