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timeanddate.com provides brief background information about Canada’s time zones and how they are observed today.
Canada has six time zones, which its provincial and territorial governments regulate. Provincial and territorial governments are also responsible for DST. Exceptions may exist in certain municipalities. There are a few exceptions to daylight saving time in Canada: some areas of Québec, east of 63 degrees west longitude, remain on Atlantic Standard Time (AST) all year round; most of Saskatchewan uses Central Standard Time (CST) all year round; and Southampton Island remains on Eastern Standard Time (EST) all year long.
Standard Time Zones |
Daylight Saving Time Zones |
|---|---|
Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) = UTC-3:30. |
Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) = UTC-2:30. |
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) = UTC-4. |
Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT) = UTC-3. |
Eastern Standard Time (EST) = UTC-5. |
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) = UTC-4. |
Central Standard Time (CST) = UTC-6. |
Central Daylight Time (CDT) = UTC-5. |
Mountain Standard Time (MST) = UTC-7. |
Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) = UTC-6. |
Pacific Standard Time (PST) = UTC -8. |
Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) = UTC-7. |
Starting in 2007, clocks following the new North American standard for Daylight Saving Time are to be turned forward by one hour on the second Sunday of March and turned back on the first Sunday of November. These boundaries and changeover dates have serial number 05, broadcast in computer readable form on short wave station CHU along with Canada's official time reference UTC (NRC): Coordinated Universal Time, the modern implementation of Greenwich Time (National Research Council Canada).
The Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) zone, UTC-3:30, is a unique time zone that exists because of the island’s location and the fact that it was a separate dominion when the time zones were established. The island of Newfoundland lies squarely in the eastern half of the Atlantic Standard Time (AST) zone. The island is exactly three and a half hours from Greenwich and, as a separate dominion, it had the ability to adopt its own time zone.
timeanddate.com has a full list of time zones for North America.