What changed

  • British Columbia stays on UTC-7 all year.
  • Alberta stays on UTC-6 all year, which its Official Time Act calls Alberta Time. The Northwest Territories, including Yellowknife and Inuvik, follows Alberta.
  • Manitoba stays on UTC-5 all year, called Manitoba Standard Time. Microsoft notes that northwestern Ontario follows Manitoba.

Saskatchewan and Yukon already kept one time all year, so nothing changed there. Alberta's clock now matches Saskatchewan's, and British Columbia's matches Yukon's.

Offset from UTC through the year in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, before and after November 1, 2026 Before: each province moved its clocks back one hour from early November to early March. From November 1, 2026: British Columbia stays at UTC-7, Alberta at UTC-6 and Manitoba at UTC-5 all year. Offset from UTC through the year British Columbia Until October 2026 UTC-8 UTC-7 (daylight time) UTC-8 From Nov. 1, 2026 UTC-7 all year Alberta and NWT Until October 2026 UTC-7 UTC-6 (daylight time) UTC-7 From Nov. 1, 2026 UTC-6 all year Manitoba Until October 2026 UTC-6 UTC-5 (daylight time) UTC-6 From Nov. 1, 2026 UTC-5 all year JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Each province used to fall back an hour every November. Now each stays where it was all summer.

Why some computers now show the wrong time

Computers do not read the news. They follow time zone rules that ship with the operating system. A Windows computer set to Pacific Time (US & Canada), Mountain Time (US & Canada) or Central Time (US & Canada) still follows the old rule, so at 2:00 a.m. on November 1 it fell back an hour. It now shows the local time minus one hour, and anything it schedules by local time, such as maintenance windows, backups and scheduled tasks, runs an hour off.

Microsoft added new time zones: (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia), (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta), which the Northwest Territories uses too, and (UTC-05:00) Manitoba. Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2 got them in the September 22, 2026 preview update, and other supported versions of Windows and Windows Server got them in the October 13, 2026 security update. Installing the update is only half the job. A computer moves to the new zone by itself only if Windows sets its time zone automatically. On most business computers it does not, and someone has to choose the new zone.

To fix one computer by hand, install the latest Windows updates, then open Settings › Time & language › Date & time and choose the new zone. On a computer that cannot get the update, choose a zone that already keeps the right time all year: (UTC-07:00) Yukon for British Columbia, (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan for Alberta and the Northwest Territories, and (UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito for Manitoba. Do not use Pacific Time (US & Canada) as a stand-in for British Columbia: it still falls back every November.

Fixing every affected computer at once with Lavawall®

Doing that by hand on every computer is slow, and it is easy to miss the laptop that was off on the day. Lavawall has two built-in scripts for it in its script library:

  • Canada time zone update (AB,BC,MB,NWT) 2026 covers British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.
  • Alberta time zone update (Alberta computers only) does the same for Alberta alone.

On each Windows 11 or Windows 10 workstation in a place it covers, the script installs the Windows update with the new time zones if the computer does not have it, then switches the computer to the new zone. Windows 10 22H2 gets the update only when it is enrolled in Extended Security Updates. A computer that cannot get the update is moved to the stand-in zone with the same time, and moves to the new zone on a later run once the update is available. If a download or install fails, the script says so and leaves the time zone alone, so you can fix the problem and run it again. It never restarts a computer, and each computer usually finishes within a minute or so.

It is safe to run on all of your computers. The script only changes workstations that Lavawall places in a province or territory it covers and that are still on the old zone. Servers, computers elsewhere, and computers whose location Lavawall does not know are skipped and left as they are. You do not have to sort your computers by province first.

There are three ways to start it:

  • For many computers: go to Devices › Automation › Run Script, choose the script, add your companies under Target Companies, and click Execute Script.
  • From the search bar: type Run Script in the search bar at the top of the console to open the same page.
  • For one computer: open its device details, click Run Script, and choose the script.

Computers that are turned off run the script the next time they connect. Each computer then reports what it did in Status/Results, for example that the update was already in place and the time zone changed, that it was put on a stand-in zone for now, or that it was skipped because it is somewhere else. The step-by-step guides on lavawall.com explain every result: the Canada time zone guide and the Alberta-only guide.

Check your calendars too

Changing a computer's time zone does not move meetings that are already booked. Meetings set up in Outlook under the old time zones can show an hour off from November 1. Classic Outlook follows the Windows time zone. In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, set the calendar time zone under Settings › Calendar › View. Then look at recurring meetings that run past November 1. Only a meeting's organizer can change it for everyone, and changing the time zone of a whole series can undo occurrences that were moved by hand, so re-create those afterwards.

Phones, Macs, Linux and everything else

  • Phones and Macs carry their own time zone rules. Install the latest updates and leave automatic date, time and time zone turned on.
  • Linux servers and appliances need an up-to-date time zone database; Alberta's change arrived in release 2026c. Applications that bring their own copy of the database need updating too.
  • Thermostats, alarm panels, door controllers, cameras and network equipment often have a daylight saving rule built in and will have fallen back an hour. Set them by hand to a fixed offset with daylight saving turned off, and ask the vendor when an update with the new rules is coming.
  • Edge cases: northwestern Ontario follows Manitoba, and the East Kootenay area of British Columbia keeps Alberta's time. The Lavawall scripts leave computers there alone, so set them by hand.

Not sure which of your computers, phones and building systems still think your province changes its clocks? ThreeShield's Calgary team can find them, fix them, and keep them patched, with Lavawall watching every computer for you.

Managed IT in Calgary

Sources

Written 2 November 2026, the day after the change took effect.