Quebec may finally ditch the fall time change after this weekend — Here's what happens next

This weekend's time change might be Quebec's last.

Hours before Quebecers turn their clocks back to standard time on Sunday, Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the province is likely done with the practice.

"Saturday will very likely be the last time we turn the clocks back in Quebec," he wrote on X on Monday.

Why the PQ wants to end it

With plenty of other provinces abolishing the switch in recent years, St-Pierre Plamondon said the Parti Québécois has questioned the time change several times over the past few years, pointing to studies that show it's bad for people's health and hard for kids to adjust to.

He also had a message for parents in particular.

"Dear parents who have several weeks ahead of them managing their children's reaction to this time change, this is probably the last year that we'll be imposing such pointless constraints on ourselves," he wrote.

What happens next

The government isn't flipping the switch just yet.

According to St-Pierre Plamondon, it plans to hear from experts first, to confirm what he called an apparent consensus that the practice does more harm than good. Those consultations will also help decide a key question: whether Quebec should stay on daylight time or standard time year-round.

He said the consultations will begin in the coming months as part of a short parliamentary commission. He didn't give a date for when a change might take effect.

Quebecers have been asking for this

The idea has been floating around Quebec for a while.

When the previous CAQ government held a public consultation in the fall of 2024, about 91% of the roughly 214,000 Quebecers who responded said they wanted to stop changing the clocks. Close to three-quarters said they'd prefer to stay on daylight time all year. But the province never followed through, citing the need to stay in sync with neighbours like Ontario and New York.

Meanwhile, much of the country has already moved on. B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Yukon and parts of northwestern Ontario have all stopped changing their clocks, and Saskatchewan has skipped the switch for decades.

For now, you'll still fall back

None of this changes anything for this weekend. At 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, clocks in most of Quebec will still fall back one hour.

So enjoy that extra hour of sleep. If the premier gets his way, you might not get another one.

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