Are your meetings wrong after the BC and Alberta time zone change?

Why some meetings show an hour late and others don’t

When you book a meeting, your calendar saves it as “10:00 AM in this time zone”. It doesn’t save “10:00 AM in Vancouver forever”. The time zone is whatever the organizer’s calendar was set to when they booked it.

Until this year, Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles all shared one time zone in most calendars: Pacific Time. On Nov 1, 2026 that stops being true. Seattle and LA fall back to UTC−8. BC stays at UTC−7. So a meeting saved in the old “Pacific Time (US & Canada)” time zone will follow Seattle back an hour, and land an hour late for anyone actually in BC. The same goes for Alberta with Mountain Time and Manitoba with Central Time.

The fix is to change the meeting to the new time zone for that province, which Microsoft, Google and Apple have added this fall.

Who has to do what

An example: a weekly Vancouver–Toronto call

Say there’s a weekly call at 10:00 AM Vancouver time, which has been 1:00 PM in Toronto all summer.

Notice that fixing the Vancouver organizer’s meeting moves it in Toronto. That’s the point: BC and Ontario are now 2 hours apart in winter instead of 3. Someone’s meeting has to move. Which one depends on who booked it. You can check any pair with the Vancouver to Toronto converter or find a new slot with the meeting planner.

Fixing BC and Alberta meetings in Outlook and Microsoft 365

The new Outlook time zones: Pacific Time (British Columbia), Mountain Time (Alberta) and Manitoba

Microsoft has added three new time zones: (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia), (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta) and (UTC-05:00) Manitoba. Windows got them in the September preview update and the October 13, 2026 security update. If you’re in BC’s East Kootenay (Cranbrook, Fernie), pick Mountain Time (Alberta).

How to fix recurring meetings in Outlook

Existing meetings do not switch over automatically. Microsoft’s instructions, in short:

1. Install Windows updates and restart, then set your calendar time zone to the new one. In Outlook on the web and new Outlook it’s under Settings › Calendar › View › Time zones. Classic Outlook for Windows follows the Windows time zone.
2. For each meeting you organized on or after Nov 1, open it (choose Edit series for a recurring one), click the time zone globe, pick the new time zone and send the update.
3. Check the series afterwards. Changing a series’ time zone resets any instances you’d moved or edited, so you’ll need to redo them.

Outlook meetings still showing an hour late?

Things to watch for:

• Only the organizer can make the change. Attendees get the updated invitation automatically.
• New Outlook for Mac and Outlook for iOS. Users have reported these showing BC and Alberta meetings an hour late after Nov 1, even when other Outlook apps show them correctly. Microsoft hadn’t posted a fix at the time of writing. Several BC universities are telling staff to make their changes in Outlook on the web.
• Room bookings. When a meeting moves an hour, the room may already be booked, and the room can decline it. Check after updating.
• Don’t change your computer’s time zone by hand to make one meeting look right. It throws off everything else.

Google Calendar and the BC time zone change

Google is doing most of the work itself. It says that in October 2026 it will “automatically shift most of the affected events back by one hour”. An event counts as affected if it’s on or after Nov 1, uses an affected Canadian time zone, and was created before Google updated that zone:

What Google won’t fix automatically:

• Recurring events with edited instances, such as one week moved, a different room or a custom description. Those have to be fixed instance by instance.
• Invitations that came from Outlook users.

Google Calendar on the web shows a banner on affected events with two buttons: Move one hour earlier or Keep current time. The phone apps don’t show it, so do this on a computer. Google also asks Workspace admins not to run bulk-fix scripts, which it says can corrupt calendar data.

Apple Calendar on iPhone and Mac

We couldn’t find a public Apple support article about meetings and this change. Apple ships time zone updates with iOS and macOS, and sometimes over the air, so devices can differ until they’ve all been updated. UBC’s IT team reports that current macOS and iOS already use the new BC rules and show the time zone by city, Vancouver for example.

What that means in practice:

• Update iOS and macOS, and make sure the time zone is set automatically or set to your city. Check your device here.
• Apple Calendar shows whatever your calendar service sends it. If the meeting lives in Outlook or Google, fix it there and Apple Calendar will follow.
• For iCloud calendar events you created yourself before the update, open a few repeating events after Nov 1 and check the time.

A checklist for the week before Nov 1

1. Update your phone and computer, and restart.
2. Set your calendar to the new time zone for your province.
3. List the recurring meetings you organize that continue past Nov 1, starting with any that include people outside your province.
4. Update each one’s time zone and send the update, or end the series on Oct 31 and start a new one.
5. Check room bookings and any instances you’d edited.
6. On Monday, Nov 2, check your first few meetings against the time zone converter. If one is off and you didn’t organize it, tell the organizer.

Questions