WINNIPEG — Manitoba will not turn its clocks back early on Sunday. It becomes the latest Canadian jurisdiction to abandon seasonal time changes, adopting permanent daylight time while most of North America returns to standard time. Under the new arrangement, the province will run on UTC-5 year-round, branded as Manitoba Standard Time.

The Manitoba government announced the change on 17 September. It followed a provincial survey in May, which found that 92 per cent of respondents wanted an end to twice-yearly clock changes. The same survey found that 58 per cent preferred permanent daylight time and 34 per cent favoured standard time.

The shift redraws the winter time map of central North America. From Sunday, Winnipeg will share a clock with Toronto and Ottawa through the winter months. It will sit one hour ahead of Minnesota and North Dakota until March, when those states spring forward and the neighbours realign.

Ontario announced on 13 October that Kenora and other northwestern communities west of the 90th meridian will also stop changing clocks from 1 November. That keeps the region, which has close economic ties to Winnipeg, in step with Manitoba.

Technology companies have rushed to update time zone data before the switch. Microsoft released a Manitoba-specific update for Windows on 13 October and said it must be installed before 1 November to avoid incorrect clocks and calendar errors. Devices that miss the update could wrongly fall back an hour overnight, disrupting meeting invitations, scheduling software and automated systems.

Manitoba joins British Columbia, which stopped changing its clocks after 8 March and now stays on permanent Pacific Time, and Saskatchewan, which has long avoided seasonal changes. In the United States, the House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act 308-117 on 14 July. The bill remains with the Senate Commerce Committee, so Americans will still fall back on Sunday.