Quebec Says This Weekend's Clock Change Should Be Its Last

Quebec's Parti Quebecois government says this weekend's clock change should be the last one for Quebecers, with a bill planned in the coming months to abolish the twice a year time change starting next year.

Clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026. If the government follows through, Quebecers will make that adjustment this weekend and then stop switching their clocks for good.

The message was aimed first at families who feel the change most in the days after it happens.

"To all the parents who will be dealing with their children's reactions this time change in the several weeks to come: this is probably the last year we'll be imposing such unnecessary constraints on ourselves," the premier wrote on Facebook.

A promise carried from the campaign

On the campaign trail, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon had said he was open to abolishing the change, and the PQ called the practice counterproductive to health.

The government now says it hopes to table a bill in the coming months to abolish the time change starting next year. That wording leaves the final step to the legislature. A bill has to be tabled, debated and passed before the promise becomes law, and the details of which time Quebec would keep on a permanent basis will matter to schools, employers and travellers.

Still, the political direction is now stated plainly by the government itself: this weekend should be the last switch.

Public support measured in an earlier consultation

A public consultation launched in 2024 by the previous Coalition Avenir Quebec government found 90 percent of participants in favour of ditching the time change.

The CAQ did not act on that result. In spring 2025, former justice minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said further consultation was needed.

That history is part of why the PQ announcement stands out. The question has already been put to the public, the response was heavily in favour of ending the change, and the previous government chose to study it further instead of legislating. The new government is presenting its planned bill as the delayed answer to that consultation.

Other provinces have already moved

Quebec would not be moving alone. British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba have all decided in the last year or so to stop switching, while Yukon and Saskatchewan have not wound their clocks back in years.

Ontario passed a law in 2020 to end its time change only if Quebec and New York did the same. A Quebec decision therefore carries weight beyond its own borders, because Ontario's law was written to wait for Quebec to move.

For families, the change is practical before it is political. Sleep schedules, school mornings and work routines all shift when clocks move, and parents often handle the fallout for days. The premier's message spoke directly to that experience, calling the change an unnecessary constraint that Quebec imposes on itself.

This weekend, the rule is unchanged: clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026. What changes, if the bill passes, is what happens after that. Quebec would join a growing list of provinces and territories that have decided the twice a year switch should end.