Manitoba Permanent Daylight Time: Clocks Won't Fall Back

The short answer

If you live in Manitoba, leave your clocks alone on the night of October 31 to November 1, 2026. Premier Wab Kinew announced on Thursday, September 17, 2026 that the province will stay on daylight saving time permanently, and the government's news release says plainly that clocks "will not revert to standard time on November 1." On Friday, September 25, 2026, he signed the proclamation in Selkirk that ends the twice-a-year change.

Manitoba keeps the offset it has used since March 8, 2026: five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−5). That is the same clock reading as Central Daylight Time, which is what Manitoba has always used in summer. The difference is that it now continues through the winter, and it will not change again in March 2027.

• No fall-back on Sun, Nov 1, 2026, and no spring-forward on Sun, Mar 14, 2027.
• Winter sunrise and sunset move one hour later than in past winters.
• From Sun, Nov 1, 2026 to Sat, Mar 13, 2027, Winnipeg shows the same time as Toronto and Ottawa.

Why Manitoba made the change

Manitoba's time is set by provincial law, The Official Time Act, which brought province-wide daylight time in the 1960s and was later aligned with the US schedule (second Sunday of March to first Sunday of November) in 2007. Before 2026, the province had never tried to end the change.

In May 2026 the government asked Manitobans about the future of the time change. Nearly 72,000 votes came in:

An analysis by Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care concluded that ending the time change would be better for population health than keeping it. The Premier, who had said he personally leaned toward standard time, chose daylight time because that was what most respondents asked for. The government cited health, businesses that work across provincial borders, and families with young children, whose sleep and routines can be thrown off for days by a one-hour shift.

Time differences this winter and next summer

Manitoba stopped changing, but several of its neighbours did not, and others stopped at the same time. Compared with Winnipeg:

"This winter" means November 1, 2026 to March 13, 2027. * Northwestern Ontario's change was announced but still had to be made by regulation in mid-October; the Kivalliq row assumes Nunavut does not change its law before November 1 (see below).

Two changes will catch people out. First, Saskatchewan: in past winters Regina and Winnipeg showed the same time, and now Winnipeg is an hour ahead all year. Second, the US border: Minnesota and North Dakota still fall back on Sun, Nov 1, 2026, so a 9:00 a.m. appointment in Grand Forks is 10:00 a.m. in Winnipeg until Sat, Mar 13, 2027. Cross-border shift work, trucking schedules and flights to Minneapolis are all published in local time on each side.

The national effect is the opposite: for the winter months, a 1:00 p.m. meeting in Ottawa is 1:00 p.m. in Winnipeg, and national TV and radio schedules line up with the East. The Grey Cup on November 15 kicks off at 6:00 p.m. in Winnipeg, the same time as in Toronto.

Northwestern Ontario and Nunavut

Manitoba's decision left its neighbours on Central time with a choice.

• Northwestern Ontario. The part of Ontario west of the 90th meridian (Kenora and the Rainy River district, for example) has always kept Manitoba's clock. On October 13, 2026 the Ontario government announced it would amend a regulation under its Time Act so this area stays on daylight time with Manitoba from November 1. Surveys of municipalities, businesses and First Nations showed 90 to 94 per cent support. Thunder Bay and the rest of Ontario are on Eastern time and still fall back.
• Kivalliq, Nunavut. Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Baker Lake and the rest of the Kivalliq region share Manitoba's clock. In early October 2026 the territorial government said no decision had been made and its review could take months. Unless Nunavut acts before November 1, the Kivalliq falls back and is one hour behind Winnipeg for the winter.

If you travel or work in either area, check the local government's latest notice in the last week of October; both situations were still moving in mid-October.

Darker mornings, lighter evenings

Staying on summer time moves winter daylight one hour later on the clock. The province's own time-policy factsheet gives these figures for the shortest day of the year:

Summer does not change at all: on June 21, Winnipeg still sees sunrise around 5:20 a.m. and sunset around 9:41 p.m. The amount of daylight never changes either (about 8 hours 6 minutes in Winnipeg at the solstice); only the clock reading moves.

In practice, December and January commutes, school drop-offs and early shifts happen in the dark across most of the province, while there is daylight after a typical workday in late winter.

• Children walking to school: reflective strips and lights matter more in the morning than they used to.
• Drivers: morning deer and pedestrian visibility drops, and low sun arrives later on east-facing routes.
• Sleep: a fixed wake-up time and bright light soon after waking help your body adjust to a later sunrise.

Phones, computers and clocks

Because the decision came only weeks before November 1, check your devices on the morning of Sunday, November 1, 2026.

• Phones and computers take time-zone rules from system updates. The international time-zone database added Manitoba's change in release 2026e; install any pending updates before the weekend of October 31.
• If a device shows 7:00 a.m. when it should be 8:00 a.m., it applied the old rule. Set the time manually or, on a computer, choose a time zone with a fixed UTC−5 offset until an update arrives.
• Devices set to "Chicago" or "Central Time (US & Canada)" will fall back with the US. Choose Winnipeg as the time zone instead.
• Ovens, car clocks and wall clocks need nothing this year.
• Calendar invitations from people in Saskatchewan or the US keep their own time zone; check meeting times shown after November 1 rather than assuming the old alignment.

You can keep an eye on the exact time with our online alarm clock, which uses your device's clock.