March 8, 2026, is the last time most British Columbians will change their clocks — what you need to know

Most British Columbians will wake up Sunday having lost an hour of sleep — one that they'll never gain back come November, given the province will have shifted to permanent daylight time year-round.

For over 70 years, most residents of the province had gotten used to observing daylight saving time — moving their clocks ahead an hour in March, and rolling them back to standard time in November.

But after years of promises, and research showing that clock-changing was detrimental for people's health, B.C. finally decided to make the shift to a permanent time zone.

Here's what you need to know about British Columbia's shift to the Pacific time zone.

B.C.'s Pacific time zone is seven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) — the same as the Yukon, which made the change in 2020.

On Saturday, the bulk of B.C. is on Pacific standard time — the same time zone observed by Washington state and California during the winter months.

Come Sunday, clocks will move ahead one hour in B.C., just like it will in those western U.S. states, and they will be on the same time zone in the summer.

But in November, B.C. won't "fall back" an hour. B.C. will then be on the same time zone as Alberta in winter, and an hour ahead of its southern U.S. neighbours.

Yes, and there are some regional variations already when it comes to the time in B.C.

Regions like the Peace region of northeast B.C. and the town of Creston, which used to observe mountain standard time, will now be aligned with the rest of B.C. year-round and be on Pacific time.

The southeast portion of B.C. — which includes Cranbrook, Fernie, Kimberley and Golden — is aligned with Alberta, observing mountain standard time in the winter and springing forward an hour into mountain daylight time in the spring.

This will continue to be the practice for the time being, which means the East Kootenay will be an hour ahead of the rest of B.C. in the summer months but on the same clocks in the winter.

B.C.'s Ministry of the Attorney General told CBC News in an emailed statement that the extra evening daylight on permanent daylight time will have benefits in terms of more time for outdoor activity and safer commutes.

"Concentrating limited winter daylight at the end of the day aligns better with when most people are active, which could help reduce collisions and improve overall well‑being," the statement read.