Canada Time Zone Map

Canada spans six mainland zones — more than most people expect. Newfoundland is the only sub-hour offset in North America (UTC−3:30).

Pacific · PST/PDT11:08 AMUTC−8

Your time11:38 PMSAT, OCT 31UTC+5:30

Vancouver timeVancouver11:08 AMSAT, OCT 31UTC-7

Edmonton timeEdmonton12:08 PMSAT, OCT 31UTC-6

Central timeCentral1:08 PMSAT, OCT 31UTC-5

Eastern timeEastern2:08 PMSAT, OCT 31UTC-4

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Zones in this view

Zone	IANA	Standard	Daylight	Abbr
Pacific	America/Vancouver	UTC−8	UTC−7 (PDT)	PST/PDT
Mountain	America/Edmonton	UTC−7	UTC−6 (MDT)	MST/MDT
Central	America/Chicago	UTC−6	UTC−5 (CDT)	CST/CDT
Eastern	America/New_York	UTC−5	UTC−4 (EDT)	EST/EDT
Atlantic	America/Halifax	UTC−4	UTC−3 (ADT)	AST/ADT
Newfoundland	America/St_Johns	UTC−3:30	UTC−2:30 (NDT)	NST/NDT

Good to know

How Canada lines up with the US: most of Canada changes clocks on the same dates as the US, so the hour gap between Vancouver and Los Angeles, or Toronto and New York, stays constant year-round. The irregularities are Newfoundland’s 30-minute offset, Saskatchewan (Central Standard Time all year, so it matches Calgary in summer and Winnipeg in winter), and Yukon (UTC−7 all year since 2020). For a specific Canadian city, the time converter computes the exact offset on the day you’re scheduling.

Where the offsets come from

Every offset on this map is counted from Greenwich. Five dates in how the world agreed on that.

Before 1883

Sun time

Every town set its clocks by the sun overhead, so noon in Boston came about twelve minutes before noon in New York, and railroads juggled dozens of local times.

A weathered stone sundial with Roman numerals and an iron gnomon — A sundial on the porch of St Giles’ Church, Chesterton, England.

November 18, 1883

Railroad time

U.S. and Canadian railroads switched to standard zones an hour apart, set from Greenwich. Many towns reset their clocks the same day, remembered as “the day of two noons.”

A gold railroad pocket watch with a white dial, lying on its chain — A railroad pocket watch made for the Plant System, a railroad of the Southeast.

1884

Greenwich

Delegates at the International Meridian Conference in Washington chose the Greenwich meridian as longitude zero — the line every UTC offset on this site is counted from.

A red time ball on its mast above the octagonal turret of the Royal Observatory — The time ball on the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, dropped at 1 p.m. as a public time signal since 1833.

1918 and 1966

Time by law

The Standard Time Act made the zones federal law in 1918. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 set common daylight-saving rules and let a state opt out, as Arizona and Hawaii do.

The open back of a railroad-grade pocket watch, showing its jewelled movement — The movement of a Hamilton railroad-grade pocket watch, about 1929.

2026

Daylight saving

Since 2007 clocks spring forward on the second Sunday of March and fall back on the first Sunday of November: March 8 and November 1 this year.

A large 24-hour clock face set into a red brick wall beneath a sign reading Royal Observatory Greenwich — The Shepherd Gate Clock at Greenwich, which shows Greenwich Mean Time on a 24-hour dial.

Frequently asked questions

How many time zones is Canada in?

Six: Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic, and Newfoundland. Some regions skip daylight saving — most of Saskatchewan stays on Central Standard Time, and Yukon has kept UTC−7 year-round since 2020.

What time zone is Toronto in?

Eastern Time (EST/EDT). Toronto’s IANA zone is America/Toronto, one of the Eastern Time identifiers.

Why is Newfoundland a half-hour behind Atlantic Canada?

Newfoundland’s clock descends from local mean time at St. John’s, which lies roughly halfway between the UTC−4 and UTC−3 meridians, so the island kept a half-hour offset (UTC−3:30 standard, UTC−2:30 in summer) — the only one in North America.

Sources: offsets and daylight saving rules from theIANA time zone database; zone shapes from Timezone Boundary Builder. See Data Sources for versions and limitations.