Eastern Time cities
Live clocks and local time facts for every major city in the zone.
Live · ET · Montréal, Québec
Current time in Montreal
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Montreal is on Eastern Time: heure normale de l'Est (HNE, UTC−5) in winter and heure avancée de l'Est (HAE, UTC−4) in summer – in English, EST and EDT.
- Now in effect
- EST or EDT
- Next clock change
- Second Sunday in March
- Countdown
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- Airport
- YUL · Montréal–Trudeau
What time zone is Montreal in?
Montreal keeps Eastern Time under Quebec's own statute, the Legal Time Act (Loi sur le temps légal, CQLR c. T-5.1), in force since 2007. Time is a provincial matter in Canada, so Quebec – not Ottawa – decides its clocks, and today it uses the same daylight-saving dates as Ontario and the United States. The result is the same clock as New York, Toronto and the live Eastern Time clock on our homepage.
In the IANA database the city has no zone of its own any more: America/Montreal is an alias of America/Toronto, the entry for most of Ontario and Quebec. The city covers most of the Island of Montreal, which forms its own administrative region. Its airport, YUL, Montréal–Trudeau International, lies in Dorval about 20 km west of downtown – many locals still simply call it "Dorval".
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Region | Montréal (Island of Montreal), Quebec |
| Time zone | Eastern (America/Toronto) |
| Winter / summer | HNE, UTC−5 / HAE, UTC−4 |
| Airport | YUL, Montréal–Trudeau (Dorval) |
| Coordinates | 45.50°N, 73.57°W |
| Solar noon | 11:38 AM–12:08 PM HNE · 12:38–1:03 PM HAE |
What do HNE and HAE mean?
- HNE – heure normale de l'Est
- Eastern Standard Time, UTC−5, used from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March. "Normale" is the French counterpart of "standard".
- HAE – heure avancée de l'Est
- Eastern Daylight Time, UTC−4. Quebec's official term is heure avancée, "advanced time"; heure d'été, "summer time", is the usual phrase in France and is common in everyday Quebec speech too.
- HE – heure de l'Est
- The generic "Eastern Time", the equivalent of ET. The Office québécois de la langue française notes that it is used when there is no risk of confusing winter and summer time.
- HNA – heure normale de l'Atlantique
- Atlantic Standard Time, UTC−4 – the legal time in Quebec's far east, covered below.
The letters follow French word order, so they come out reversed from English: EST becomes HNE, EDT becomes HAE. On bilingual schedules you will often see both forms. Quebec French also writes clock times on the 24-hour clock with an h: a 7:30 PM show is 19 h 30. Our guide to ET abbreviations covers the English forms, and EST vs EDT explains why mixing them up is a real error.
Does all of Quebec use Montreal time?
Almost. The Legal Time Act draws the line at the 63rd meridian west: west of it, legal time is Eastern; east of it, and on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq reserve on the New Brunswick border, it is Atlantic. Two corners result:
- Îles-de-la-Madeleine (the Magdalen Islands) and Listuguj keep Atlantic Time and change clocks with the rest of Canada, so they are always one hour ahead of Montreal.
- The Basse-Côte-Nord (Lower North Shore), from around Kegaska to Blanc-Sablon, stays on Atlantic Standard Time all year. In winter it is an hour ahead of Montreal; in summer it shows the same time.
The Minganie regional county municipality, which the meridian crosses, including Anticosti Island, stays on Eastern Time. Software follows the same split: the islands use America/Halifax, the Lower North Shore America/Puerto_Rico. Every Canadian exception is on the Eastern Time in Canada page.
| Area | Winter | Summer |
|---|---|---|
| Montreal, most of Quebec | 12:00 PM HNE | 12:00 PM HAE |
| Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Listuguj | 1:00 PM (UTC−4) | 1:00 PM (UTC−3) |
| Basse-Côte-Nord | 1:00 PM (UTC−4) | 12:00 PM (UTC−4) |
Sunrise and sunset in Montreal 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 (HNE) | 7:31 AM | 4:14 PM | 11:52 AM | 8h 43m |
| Mar 20, 2027 (HAE) | 6:58 AM | 7:07 PM | 1:02 PM | 12h 09m |
| Jun 21, 2027 (HAE) | 5:05 AM | 8:47 PM | 12:56 PM | 15h 42m |
| Sep 23, 2027 (HAE) | 6:42 AM | 6:50 PM | 12:47 PM | 12h 08m |
Montreal is one of the few big ET cities east of the 75°W meridian on which Eastern Standard Time was built. At 73.57°W it is 1.4° east of the line, so its sun runs about 6 minutes ahead of the clock: in December, solar noon comes before clock noon, at 11:52 AM. Summer DST then pushes it to about 12:56 PM.
The cost is early winter darkness. From November 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027 the sun sets before 5:00 PM every day, as early as 4:11 PM around December 11, and daylight swings by almost 7 hours across the year – slightly more than in Ottawa, and the most of any city covered on this site.
Is Quebec ending the time change?
It has announced that it intends to. On October 28, 2026, Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said his government would table a bill to end the twice-yearly change and that the November 1 fall-back would very likely be the last. What it has not decided is which time to keep: a short parliamentary committee is to hear experts first. A 2024 online consultation under the previous government drew about 214,000 responses, 91% against keeping the change, and most of those wanted permanent daylight time; sleep specialists have argued for permanent standard time instead. That earlier government never acted, citing the risk of falling out of step with US trading partners and financial markets.
The two options look very different from Montreal. Computed for the city, permanent HAE would mean a latest sunrise around 8:34 AM in early January and about 85 mornings a year with sunrise at 8:00 AM or later, but no sunset before 5:11 PM. Permanent HNE would bring June sunrises as early as 4:05 AM and no sunset after about 7:47 PM. Either way, if Quebec moved alone, Montreal would part from New York and Toronto for part of every year. How such a split would play out between Gatineau and its neighbour is covered on the Ottawa page; dates are on the daylight saving time guide.
Which cities near Montreal share its clock?
- Laval – 16 km (10 mi) north across the Rivière des Prairies, on Île Jésus; same clock, sun times within about a minute.
- Longueuil – just across the St. Lawrence on the South Shore; identical time.
- Quebec City – 233 km (145 mi) northeast, the provincial capital; same legal time, but its sun runs about 9½ minutes ahead of Montreal's.
- Ottawa – 166 km (103 mi) west, just beyond the 75°W line marked on the map.
More cities on this clock are on the Eastern Time cities hub.
- Montreal and nearby cities on Eastern Time
- 75°W meridian
Frequently asked questions
Is Montreal on the same time as New York?
Yes. Montreal uses the same rules as New York and Toronto: UTC−5 in winter, UTC−4 in summer, with clocks changing on the same nights.
What time is it in Paris when it is noon in Montreal?
Usually 6:00 PM. For a few weeks a year Europe and North America are out of step, and the gap is five hours: in 2027 from March 14 to 28 and from October 31 to November 7, noon in Montreal is 5:00 PM in Paris.
How do you write the time in Quebec French?
With the 24-hour clock and the letter h: 13 h 30 for 1:30 PM, 9 h for 9:00 AM. Add HNE or HAE, or simply HE, when the time zone matters.
Is Montreal on the same time as Halifax?
No. Halifax is on Atlantic Time, one hour ahead of Montreal all year: noon in Montreal is 1:00 PM in Halifax. Both cities change their clocks on the same nights.
When do clocks change in Montreal in 2027?
Under the current law, at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 14, 2027 (forward to HAE) and at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 7, 2027 (back to HNE). A Quebec bill to end the change could alter this.
Explore
Eastern Time in Canada
Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut, and every regional exception.
Time in Ottawa
The capital across the river from Quebec, and Canada's official time.
ET abbreviations
EST, EDT, ET and the rarer forms, with when to use each.