Daylight saving time begins this Sunday: Here’s what it means for Toronto, Canada Reviews

Daylight saving time (DST) returns this Sunday, March 8, 2026, meaning Toronto (and most of Ontario) will lose an hour of sleep overnight as clocks jump ahead. The trade-off, though, is brighter evenings (and hopefully, slightly less of a need to worry about dark evening drives).

The switch happens at 2:00 am this Sunday: the time will skip straight to 3:00 am (or, if you have non-smart appliances, you’ll need to set your clocks forward by an hour when you wake up). In Toronto, the sunlight shift will be instantly noticeable! On Saturday, sunset is around 6:13 pm, but on Sunday, it’ll be about 7:15 pm, so you’ll have more than enough light to explore the city after dinner!

Most of Ontario follows DST, but a small number of communities in northwestern Ontario don’t observe it, so they won’t “spring forward” with Toronto. Across Canada, DST is used in most places, except for a few areas. Most of Saskatchewan stays on the same time year-round, and Yukon has made a permanent switch with no seasonal clock changes.

Quebec has launched a public consultation on whether to scrap the twice-yearly clock change, with 91 per cent of respondents saying they want to stop changing the clocks.

But the big change is happening in British Columbia: the province has announced it will adopt permanent, year-round daylight saving time! “Spring forward” on March 8, 2026, will be the last time change for most of the province, meaning once November arrives, when clocks would normally fall back an hour, B.C. won’t change clocks.

“This decision isn’t just about clocks. It’s about making life easier for families, reducing disruptions for businesses and supporting a stable, thriving economy,” B.C. Premier David Eby said in a statement.

With B.C. taking the plunge, some are wondering if Ontario will follow suit. In 2020, Ontario’s legislature passed the Time Amendment Act, which would make daylight saving time the standard time year-round. But it’ll only come into force on a day set by provincial proclamation (and Ontario leaders have repeatedly pointed to the need to stay aligned with neighbouring jurisdictions, especially Quebec and New York State, before flipping the switch).

Whether Ontario follows suit or not, DST has a surprisingly Canadian history. The idea of daylight saving time first surfaced in the late 1800s, but one of the earliest real-world experiments happened in Ontario. In 1908, residents of Port Arthur (now part of Thunder Bay) moved their clocks forward, which is often cited as one of the first DST periods used anywhere.

DST spread more broadly during wartime, as it became tied to energy-saving and production goals. In Canada, its first federal use is often traced back to a 1918 wartime measure, after which the practice evolved unevenly across provinces and municipalities over the decades.