TORONTO, July 21, 2026 – Alberta residents will no longer need to change their clocks twice a year. While most of Canada will turn clocks back one hour this November to return to standard time, Alberta will remain on its new permanent “Alberta Time,” which is equivalent to the current Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).
This means the clock change Alberta made in March—moving forward one hour—was the province’s final seasonal time adjustment. Starting this November, Alberta will no longer return to Mountain Standard Time and will remain permanently on UTC−6.
For people who frequently travel between provinces, work remotely, or communicate with family members in other parts of Canada, the biggest change will be that Alberta’s time difference with other regions may vary depending on the season.
For example, Toronto currently follows Eastern Daylight Time during the summer, making Alberta two hours behind. When Ontario returns to standard time on the first Sunday of November, Alberta will not adjust its clocks, and the time difference between the two provinces will narrow to one hour. When Ontario returns to daylight time the following spring, the difference will increase back to two hours.
Starting this winter, Alberta residents will no longer experience changes to their own clocks, but the time difference between Alberta and provinces that continue seasonal clock changes may shift twice a year. Residents arranging interprovincial flights, online meetings, television broadcasts, or appointments across regions will need to pay closer attention to the time zone being used.
The Alberta government said eliminating seasonal time changes will reduce the disruptions caused by changing clocks twice a year and improve predictability for families, businesses, schools, and public services. The province plans to collect feedback after one year of implementation and evaluate how the new system is working.
The question of whether Alberta should eliminate seasonal clock changes has been debated for years. A 2019 government consultation found that 91 per cent of participants supported adopting permanent daylight time. However, in the 2021 province-wide referendum, the result was much closer, with 50.2 per cent of more than 1.06 million valid votes opposing the elimination of seasonal clock changes.
Alberta has now chosen to remain permanently on UTC−6 and officially refers to the new system as “Alberta Time.”
For residents, the key change to remember this November is simple: when many other parts of Canada turn their clocks back one hour in the fall, Alberta will not.
However, “no clock changes” does not mean residents can ignore time differences. For people who regularly travel between Alberta and Ontario or need to coordinate across provinces, the time difference may be different in summer and winter. Checking the local time zone will become especially important when booking flights, scheduling meetings, or confirming events.(LJI by Yuanyuan)
