Eastern Time cities
Live clocks and local time facts for every major city in the zone.
Live · ET · Ottawa, Ontario · America/Toronto
Current time in Ottawa
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Canada's capital is on Eastern Time – EST (UTC−5) in winter, EDT (UTC−4) in summer – and sits so close to the zone's reference meridian that its clock nearly matches the sun.
- Now in effect
- EST or EDT
- Next clock change
- Second Sunday in March
- Countdown
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- Distance from 75°W
- ≈ 55 km west
What time zone is Ottawa in?
Ottawa keeps Eastern Time under Ontario's Time Act, and your device files it under the IANA zone America/Toronto – the same rules as Toronto and New York, and the same clock as the live Eastern Time clock on our homepage. Like Toronto, the City of Ottawa is a single-tier municipality outside any county.
Its airport, YOW – Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International, named after Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier – lies south of downtown and serves the whole National Capital Region, including Gatineau on the Quebec side of the river.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Municipality | City of Ottawa, Ontario (single-tier) |
| Time zone | Eastern (America/Toronto) |
| Winter / summer | EST, UTC−5 / EDT, UTC−4 |
| Airport | YOW, Macdonald–Cartier |
| Coordinates | 45.42°N, 75.70°W |
| Solar noon | 11:46 AM–12:17 PM EST · 12:46–1:12 PM EDT |
Why is Ottawa's clock so close to its sun?
Eastern Standard Time was designed as the mean solar time of the 75th meridian west, exactly five hours behind Greenwich. That line runs between Ottawa and Cornwall, and Ottawa at 75.70°W is only 0.7° – about 55 km – west of it. On average the sun crosses the city's sky less than 3 minutes after clock noon on EST – among big ET cities only Philadelphia, almost on the meridian, fits better. By comparison Montreal's sun runs about 6 minutes ahead of the clock, Toronto's about 17 minutes behind, and Detroit's 32 minutes behind.
The residual drift through the year is the equation of time, caused by Earth's tilted axis and elliptical orbit. It moves Ottawa's solar noon between about 11:46 AM in early November and 12:17 PM in mid-February on EST – 12:01 PM on the winter solstice. In summer DST adds an hour, so the sun peaks around 1:05 PM. In other words, Ottawa's winter clock is almost pure sun time, and its summer clock is almost exactly an hour fast.
Who keeps Canada's official time?
The National Research Council of Canada, from its laboratories in Ottawa. NRC atomic clocks generate UTC(NRC), Canada's realisation of Coordinated Universal Time; Eastern Time is that scale minus five hours in winter and four in summer. For eight decades Canadians heard it on the radio: from November 1939 CBC broadcast a daily time signal from Ottawa, with the famous announcement that "the beginning of the long dash indicates exactly one o'clock" Eastern Time.
The CBC dropped the signal after its broadcast of October 9, 2023, saying that with modern digital distribution, which can delay audio by several seconds, it could no longer guarantee accuracy. NRC's shortwave station CHU, transmitting from near Barrhaven in Ottawa's southwest, followed in June 2026, ending more than a century of broadcasts on 3330, 7850 and 14,670 kHz. Official time now reaches the public mainly over the internet; details are on NRC's official time page.
- 1923 – The Dominion Observatory starts experimental time broadcasts that become CHU.
- 1939 – The daily time signal goes on air on CBC Radio.
- 1970 – The NRC takes over CHU from the Observatory.
- October 9, 2023 – Last CBC broadcast of the long dash.
- June 2026 – CHU's shortwave transmitters fall silent.
Sunrise and sunset in Ottawa today
- Sunrise
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- Sunset
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- Solar noon
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- Day length
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| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Solar noon | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 21, 2026 (EST) | 7:40 AM | 4:22 PM | 12:01 PM | 8h 42m |
| Mar 20, 2027 (EDT) | 7:06 AM | 7:15 PM | 1:10 PM | 12h 09m |
| Jun 21, 2027 (EDT) | 5:14 AM | 8:55 PM | 1:05 PM | 15h 41m |
| Sep 23, 2027 (EDT) | 6:51 AM | 6:59 PM | 12:55 PM | 12h 08m |
At 45.4°N, Ottawa's daylight swings by almost 7 hours. From the fall-back on November 1, 2026 to January 25, 2027 the sun sets before 5:00 PM every day, as early as 4:20 PM around December 10. In June, DST turns a 4:14 AM sunrise into 5:14 AM and holds sunset near 8:55 PM.
Year-round daylight time, computed for Ottawa, would delay the latest sunrise to about 8:43 AM in early January, with roughly 97 mornings a year when the sun rises at 8:00 AM or later; year-round standard time would cap summer sunsets at about 7:55 PM. The daylight saving time guide lists the change dates.
Is Gatineau on the same time as Ottawa?
Yes – but by coincidence of two laws, not one. Ottawa's clock is set by Ontario's Time Act; Gatineau, across the Ottawa River, follows Quebec's Legal Time Act (Loi sur le temps légal). Both provinces choose Eastern Time with the same DST dates, so thousands of daily commuters crossing the bridges, including federal public servants working in offices on both sides, never adjust a watch.
That could change. Ontario's Time Amendment Act, 2020 would put the province on permanent daylight time, but it is not in force, and the government has tied it to Quebec and New York moving too. On October 28, 2026, Quebec's government announced it would table a bill to end clock changes, without yet choosing between year-round standard and daylight time. If Quebec picked permanent standard time and Ontario kept switching, Gatineau would sit an hour behind Ottawa every summer; if Quebec chose permanent daylight time alone, it would be an hour ahead every winter. The Eastern Time in Canada page follows each province.
Which cities near Ottawa share its clock?
- Gatineau, Quebec – directly across the Ottawa River; identical sun times to the minute.
- Kingston – 146 km (91 mi) southwest, where Lake Ontario drains into the St. Lawrence; solar noon about 3 minutes later than Ottawa's.
- Montreal – 166 km (103 mi) east, past the 75°W line; its sun runs about 8½ minutes ahead of Ottawa's.
The map's dashed line marks the 75°W meridian. More cities are on the Eastern Time cities hub.
- Ottawa and nearby cities on Eastern Time
- 75°W meridian
Frequently asked questions
Is Ottawa on the same time as Toronto and Montreal?
Yes. All three cities use the IANA zone America/Toronto: EST (UTC−5) in winter and EDT (UTC−4) in summer, changing on the same nights.
How can I set a clock to Canada's official time now?
The NRC still offers its official time through Network Time Protocol servers for computers, a web clock and a telephone talking clock. Its CHU shortwave broadcasts and the CBC Radio time signal have both ended.
Does the federal government in Ottawa decide Canada's time zones?
No. In Canada, time is set by each province and territory. Ontario's Time Act governs Ottawa; the NRC only maintains the precise reference time that the zones are based on.
Is Ottawa ahead of Winnipeg?
Only in summer. Manitoba stopped changing its clocks in 2026 and now stays on UTC−5 all year. That matches Ottawa's EST in winter, while from March to November Ottawa, on EDT, is one hour ahead.
Is Ottawa on the same time as Iqaluit?
Yes. Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, also keeps Eastern Time and changes its clocks on the same nights as Ottawa. Its IANA zone is America/Iqaluit.
Explore
Eastern Time in Canada
Which provinces and regions keep ET, and the local exceptions.
Time in Montreal
Quebec's time law, its Atlantic-time corners and the French abbreviations HNE and HAE.
Eastern Time UTC offset
What UTC−5 and UTC−4 mean, and how offsets are written.