WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government launched an online survey Wednesday on the potential end of seasonal time changes.
The survey asks people whether they want to have year-round standard time, year-round daylight time, or keep the current system that sees clocks move ahead one hour in March and back one hour in November.
Premier Wab Kinew had promised the consultation earlier this year and had said Manitoba was likely eyeing the end of clock-changing. But the survey includes the status quo as an option.
“There’s a lot to consider,” Kinew said in a social media post.
The Alberta government recently announced plans to stay on daylight time year-round, which will bring it in line with Saskatchewan, where the clocks do not change.
If Manitoba were to adopt year-round standard time, sunrises and sunsets would be an hour earlier in summer. In Winnipeg, sunset would come at roughly 8:40 p.m. in late June and 7 p.m. in early September.
If the province were to adopt year-round daylight time, sunrises and sunsets would be one hour later in winter. The sunrise in Winnipeg would be after 9 a.m. in December.
Kinew had earlier pointed to potential downsides in any change — some people would miss the late summer evenings under the first scenario. Others would not like children going to school in darkness in winter under the second scenario.
The United States tried year-round daylight time in the 1970s and quickly reversed course, due largely to backlash over schoolchildren facing late winter sunrises.
To help spur public input, the Manitoba government posted a six-page report on health implications of time change.
“Turning clocks forward or back by an hour disrupts sleep and the body’s natural daily rhythm,” the document says.
It points to two studies in the United States and Europe that have noted an increase in heart attacks after the spring time change, when people lose an hour of sleep. Data in Manitoba did not show any consistent pattern, the report says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2026.
