Time in Canada 🇨🇦
The current local time in Canada is anchored on Ottawa (America/Toronto, UTC -04:00 · EDT).
Ottawa local time
Sunday, 11 October 2026 EDT
Canada at a glance
- Capital
- Ottawa
- ISO codes
- CA · CAN
- Clocks in use today
- 5 time zones
- tz database zones
- 23
- Dialing code
- +1
- Currency
- Canadian Dollar (CAD)
- Work week
- Monday to Friday
- Weekend
- Saturday and Sunday
- Drives on the
- Right
Time zones in Canada
Canada spans 5 different clock times across the zones listed below. The IANA tz database lists 23 zone identifiers for Canada; most exist only because their local clocks differed at some point in the past.
| Zone | Standard | Daylight saving | Clock changes 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
America/Halifax · Halifax | UTC -04:00 | UTC -03:00 | Forward 8 March · Back 1 November |
America/Toronto · Toronto | UTC -05:00 | UTC -04:00 | Forward 8 March · Back 1 November |
America/Winnipeg · Winnipeg | UTC -06:00 | UTC -05:00 | Forward 8 March · Back 1 November |
America/Edmonton · Calgary | UTC -07:00 | UTC -06:00 | Forward 8 March · Back 1 November |
America/Vancouver · Vancouver | UTC -08:00 | UTC -07:00 | Forward 8 March · Back 1 November |
Ottawa vs. major cities
How far Ottawa is from the world's main business centres right now, what time it is there when the working day starts in Ottawa, and which hours of a 09:00–17:00 day the two places share. Daylight saving changes are applied automatically.
| City | Difference | At 09:00 in Ottawa | Shared office hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York · United States | Same time | 09:00 | 09:00–17:00 |
| Los Angeles · United States | −3 h | 06:00 | 12:00–17:00 |
| São Paulo · Brazil | +1 h | 10:00 | 09:00–16:00 |
| London · United Kingdom | +5 h | 14:00 | 09:00–12:00 |
| Paris · France | +6 h | 15:00 | 09:00–11:00 |
| Johannesburg · South Africa | +6 h | 15:00 | 09:00–11:00 |
| Dubai · United Arab Emirates | +8 h | 17:00 | None |
| Delhi · India | +9:30 h | 18:30 | None |
| Singapore · Singapore | +12 h | 21:00 | None |
| Beijing · China | +12 h | 21:00 | None |
Shared office hours are shown in Ottawa time. Compare any set of cities hour by hour in the time zone converter, or pick a slot that suits everyone with the event planner.
Clock changes in Ottawa
Ottawa has alternated between UTC -05:00 in standard time and UTC -04:00 in daylight saving time since at least 1970. Clocks currently go forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November, a rule in place since 2007.
| Date | Change | Local clock | New offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 8 March 2026 | Forward 1 hour | 02:00 → 03:00 | UTC -04:00 |
| Sunday, 1 November 2026 | Back 1 hour | 02:00 → 01:00 | UTC -05:00 |
| Sunday, 14 March 2027 | Forward 1 hour | 02:00 → 03:00 | UTC -04:00 |
| Sunday, 7 November 2027 | Back 1 hour | 02:00 → 01:00 | UTC -05:00 |
When clocks go forward, sunrise and sunset both happen an hour later by the clock — darker mornings, lighter evenings — and the night of the change is an hour shorter. When they go back, the reverse applies.
Source: IANA tz database, as shipped with the Unicode ICU library.
Explore Canada
Go deeper on Canada: capital time, regions, sunrise times, weather, and public holidays.