Alberta permanent daylight time causing calendar confusion, technology issues
Posted November 4, 2026 1:59 pm.
Albertans who rely on the calendars on their computers or phones may want to double check the time.
With Alberta staying on permanent daylight time year-round, some say it’s confusing and is causing them to deal with technology issues.
“It’s been difficult because our Outlook is not synced with our computers, so the computer time is right, but the Outlook isn’t synced, so that’s just a little frustrating,” one Edmontonian told CityNews.
“If you’re calling, people from a different province, different city, you don’t really know what the time is. And I imagine, I’ve heard from friends and coworkers anecdotally, that it’s just a mess.”
READ: Parents cheer, businesses brace as Western Canada ditches the time change
After decades of following the biannual time change, Alberta moved ahead with keeping daylight time permanent.
One IT expert says the shift on Nov. 1 has been causing a real technology issue, leaving people confused, especially when it comes to calendar meetings.
“We have a wide range of clients, and some have critical meetings that people are showing up for and such, so it’s been a crazy week so far,” said Shane Robinson, the director of managed IT services at BKY Technologies.
NAIT’s events team also reported incorrect times on their app and website, advising students to confirm date and time with the organizer directly.
Robinson says users should update their time zone on both their device and calendar to the appropriate one. He says even with the update, some recurring events still need to be changed manually.
“So what we’re advising clients is to go ahead and update your meetings to the proper time zone, and most importantly, you need to make sure all of your operating systems and phones are up to date, restarted, so at least the new time zone is showing up,” he said.
“If it isn’t for whatever reason and you’re frantic, then setting to Saskatchewan is a good fallback plan.”
Robinson says the issue will be resolved once Alberta gets its own time zone.
