Daylight saving time kicks in this weekend, costing Canadians an hour of sleep but giving many a daily dose of waking sunshine.

Most clocks in Canada move forward at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 8.

The most notable exception is Saskatchewan, where most of the province uses central standard time year round.

There are a number of other exceptions dotted across the country, including areas of Quebec east of 63 degrees west longitude, and pockets of B.C., Ontario and Nunavut.

Daylight time is an idea first used in Germany during the First World War with the goal of saving energy. It aims to take advantage of daylight hours in the spring so that people don’t sleep through the first few hours of sunshine.

The changes are scheduled for 2 a.m. on Sundays to minimize disruption to daily working life.

'Spring forward' in winter

People are still told to 'spring forward' even though the change hasn't happened in the spring since 2007, when Canada moved the change up three weeks to fall in line with the U.S.

The change was made south of the border under the American Energy Policy Act, first signed into law in 2005 by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Sleep experts say many who make the change will feel a little sleep deprived and require two or three days to adjust to the time change, especially if they already have a sleep deficit.

Fire departments recommend that people use the twice-yearly changes to their clocks to put new batteries in their smoke detectors.

Daylight saving time ends this year on Nov. 1.