Daylight saving time ends in the Ottawa area this weekend. Here’s what you need to know

Most Canadians' clocks will be turned back an hour when daylight saving time ends. (Pexels)

Residents of Ottawa, eastern Ontario and western Quebec will “fall back” this weekend, as daylight saving time comes to an end.

The clock will go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2.

Here’s what you need to know about the end of daylight saving time in Ottawa.

When

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, with clocks going back one hour to 1 a.m.

Ottawa will stay on standard time until Sunday, March 8, 2026, when clocks go ahead one hour to start daylight saving time.

Earlier sunrise

The start of daylight saving time will mean longer nights in Ottawa, eastern Ontario and western Quebec, with the sun setting before 5 p.m. for the next three months.

According to timeanddate.com, the sun will rise at 7:42 a.m. and set at 5:49 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1. On Nov. 2, the sun will rise at 6:43 a.m. and set at 4:48 p.m.

Ottawa will have 10 hours and six minutes of day length on Nov. 1, 10 hours and four minutes of day length on Nov. 2 and nine hours of day length by Nov. 30.

The next time the sun will set after 5 p.m. is Jan. 26, according to timeanddate.com.

Calls to end the time change

There have been pushes to end the bi-annual time change in Ottawa and Canada.

Ottawa-area MP Marie-France Lalonde introduced a private member’s bill this fall to end what she calls the “outdated practice” of daylight time. The bill calls on the federal government to work with provincial and territorial officials to formalize an agreement to end daylight time.

According to Lalonde’s private member’s bill, a pan Canadian conference on time change would look at the main issues respecting the time change, including economic issues, the scientific studies on the effects of the time change on health and productivity, and the possibility of adopting a more “uniform approach” across Canada.

The first reading of the bill was on Oct. 6.

In 2020, the Ontario government passed legislation introduced by former Ottawa MPP Jeremy Roberts to make daylight saving time permanent. The attorney general would only bring the act into effect in coordination with Quebec and New York State.

History of daylight saving time

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the Canadian government introduced daylight saving time in 1918 as a measure for increasing production during the First World War.

Saskatchewan is the only province that currently follows standard time year-round. In March 2020, Yukon adopted Yukon Standard Time and no longer observes daylight saving time.