Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. M-5)

Marginal note:Definitions

• 59.1 (1) In this section,

  employment

  employment means the position of an individual in the service of some other person, including Her Majesty, that entitles the individual to fixed or ascertainable salary, fees or other compensation; (emploi)

  federal position

  federal position means

  • (a) an office or employment the salary, fees or other compensation for which is paid in whole or in part out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund or out of monies appropriated by Parliament, and

  • (b) an office or employment in a departmental corporation or Crown corporation as defined respectively in sections 2 and 83 of the Financial Administration Act; (emploi fédéral)

  federal service contract

  federal service contract means a contract for the provision of service the consideration for the performance of which is paid in whole or in part out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund or out of monies appropriated by Parliament or by a departmental corporation or Crown corporation as defined respectively in sections 2 and 83 of the Financial Administration Act, but does not include an agreement under which an individual is engaged as an employee; (marché fédéral de services)

  office

  office means the position of an individual that entitles the individual to fixed or ascertainable salary, fees or other compensation, and includes a judicial or diplomatic office and the position of corporation director; (charge)

  remuneration

  remuneration means

  • (a) in respect of a federal position, the salary, fees or other compensation paid for or in respect of the carrying out of the duties and functions of the position, and

  • (b) in respect of a federal service contract, the consideration paid for the performance of the contract. (rémunération)

• Marginal note:Presumptions

  (2) For the purposes of this section, where a former member controls a partnership, corporation, association or other body that enters into a federal service contract,

  • (a) the former member is deemed to have entered into the contract at the time the body did so and to be a party to the contract so long as the body is a party and the former member continues to control it; and

  • (b) the remuneration in respect of the contract is deemed to equal the amount of the salary, fees or other compensation paid to the former member for or in respect of the services provided by the former member under the contract.

• Marginal note:Report

  (3) Every former member who, on or after July 13, 1995, commences to hold a federal position or enters into a federal service contract and who is receiving or commences to receive an allowance or other benefit under Part I, II, III or IV, other than a withdrawal allowance or an allowance under paragraph 20(1)(a), subsection 25(3), paragraph 40(1)(a) or subsection 45(3), 49(1) or 49.1(2), shall

  • (a) within sixty days after the later of the day on which the former member commenced to hold the position or entered into the contract and the day on which the former member commenced to receive the allowance or other benefit, notify the Minister in writing of the position or contract and the amount of the remuneration;

  • (b) within sixty days after each anniversary of the later day referred to in paragraph (a) and while holding the position or being a party to the contract, notify the Minister in writing of the total amount of the remuneration received in the preceding year; and

  • (c) within sixty days after ceasing to hold the position or to be a party to the contract or the contract is completed or otherwise terminated, notify the Minister in writing of the cessation or termination and the total amount of the remuneration received that was not previously reported under this section.

• Marginal note:Additional information

  (4) A former member referred to in subsection (3) shall furnish the Minister in writing with such additional information respecting the federal position or federal service contract as the Minister may require.

• Marginal note:Reduction

  (5) Where a former member referred to in subsection (3) receives remuneration of $5,000 or more in any year beginning on the day on which the former member commenced holding the federal position or entered into the federal service contract, or on any anniversary of that day, the aggregate of the allowances or other benefits referred to in that subsection payable to that former member in that year shall be reduced by one dollar for each dollar of the remuneration received in that year.

• Marginal note:Recovery

  (6) The amount of the reduction under subsection (5) may be recovered in accordance with the regulations from any allowance or other benefit payable to or in respect of the former member under this Act or otherwise, without prejudice to any other recourse available to Her Majesty with respect to the recovery of the amount.

• Marginal note:Reductions ignored for certain purposes

  (7) The amount of an allowance or other benefit payable under section 20, 25, 40, 45, 49, 49.1 or 51 to or in respect of a former member to whom this section applies or applied shall be determined as if no reduction were made under this section to the allowances or other benefits payable to the former member.

Marginal note:Benefits not assignable, etc.

60 Subject to the Pension Benefits Division Act and to Part II of the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act,

• (a) an allowance or other benefit under this Act is not capable of being assigned, charged, anticipated or given as security and any transaction that purports to assign, charge, anticipate or give as security any such allowance or other benefit is void;

• (b) an allowance or other benefit to which a person is entitled under this Act is not capable of being surrendered or commuted during the lifetime of that person and any transaction that purports to do so is void; and

• (c) an allowance or other benefit under this Act is exempt from attachment, seizure and execution, either at law or in equity.

Marginal note:Persons in receipt of disability allowance

• 60.1 (1) For the purposes of this Act, a person who is entitled to and elects to receive a disability allowance under section 71.1 of the Parliament of Canada Act is deemed to remain a member until the person’s entitlement to that allowance ceases.

• Marginal note:Contributions

  (2) The contributions that the member is required to make under this Act shall be made by reservation from the member’s disability allowance, commencing on the day that the allowance becomes payable, and shall be calculated in respect of the salaries and allowances on which the disability allowance is based.

Marginal note:Minimum benefit

61 Where a member or former member dies and there is no person to whom an allowance or other benefit may be paid in respect of that member, or the persons to whom an allowance or other benefit may be paid die or cease to be entitled thereto, any amount by which the total amount of the contributions paid by the member or former member under Parts I to III exceeds the aggregate of all amounts paid to those persons and the member or former member under those Parts or this Part as allowances or other benefits and under Part IV as supplementary benefits shall be paid, as a death benefit, to the estate of that member or former member or, if the amount to be paid is less than $1,000, shall be paid as authorized by the Minister.

Marginal note:Presumption as to death

• 62 (1) Where a member or former member or any person entitled to an allowance or other benefit under this Act has, either before or after December 31, 1992, disappeared under circumstances that, in the opinion of the Minister, raise beyond a reasonable doubt a presumption that the person is dead, the Minister may, for the purposes of this Act, determine the date on which that person’s death is presumed to have occurred, and thereupon that person shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have died on that date.

• Marginal note:Change of date

  (2) After having determined the date of a person’s death pursuant to subsection (1), the Minister may, on the basis of new information or evidence that the date of death is different from that determined, determine a different date of death, in which case the person shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have died on that different date.

Marginal note:Payment of interest

• 63 (1) Interest calculated in accordance with subsection (2) shall be paid on any withdrawal allowance payable under Part I or II or death benefit payable under this Act.

• Marginal note:Calculation of interest

  (2) Where, at any time after December 31, 1974, a person ceases to be a member, the Minister shall

  • (a) determine the aggregate of all amounts referred to in subsection 40(1) of the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, chapter M-10 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, and in paragraphs 18(a) and (b), 19(a) and (b), 38(a) and (b) and 39(a) and (b) of this Act that have been contributed or otherwise paid by the member

    • (i) before 1974, and

    • (ii) during each year subsequent to 1973 in which contributions were made by the member under this Act

    and that have not previously been paid to the person as a withdrawal allowance or paid to the person under this section; and

  • (b) calculate interest at the rate and in the manner prescribed

    • (i) on the aggregate amount determined in respect of the period referred to in subparagraph (a)(i), from December 31, 1973 to December 31 of the year immediately preceding the year in which the person ceased to be a member, and

    • (ii) on the aggregate amount determined in respect of each contribution year referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii), from December 31 of that year to December 31 of the year immediately preceding the year in which the person ceased to be a member.

Marginal note:Recovery of amount paid in error

63.1 Any amount that has been paid in error to a person on account of an allowance or other benefit under this Act may be recovered, in the prescribed manner, from any allowance or other benefit subsequently payable to or in respect of that person under this Act, without prejudice to any other recourse available to Her Majesty with respect to the recovery of the amount.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 64 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) [Repealed, 2012, c. 22, s. 40]

  • (b) prescribing, for the purposes of any of sections 11, 11.1, 33, 33.1 and 33.2 and subsection 63(2), the rate of interest and the manner of calculating interest;

  • (c) prescribing, in the case of any allowance or other benefit payable under this Act, the days on which the payments of allowances or other benefits shall be made and providing that payment may be made in respect of any part of a period and that, subject to section 58, where a recipient ceases to be entitled to an allowance or other benefit or dies, payment may be made in respect of the full month in which the recipient ceases to be entitled to an allowance or other benefit or dies;

  • (d) providing, where a recipient of any allowance or other benefit payable under this Act is incapable of managing the recipient’s affairs, that the allowance or other benefit may be paid to another person on the recipient’s behalf;

  • (e) [Repealed, 1995, c. 30, s. 25]

  • (f) respecting the manner in which amounts referred to in subsection 56(3) or 57(2) or section 63.1 may be recovered from any allowance or other benefit payable under this Act;

  • (g) providing for the terms and conditions for instalment payments under subsection 57(1) and prescribing the bases as to mortality and interest to be used in establishing the amounts of the payments;

  • (h) respecting, for the purposes of section 21 or 41, the circumstances under which a child to whom that section applies shall be entitled to an allowance under Part I or II;

  • (h.1) respecting the recovery of amounts under subsection 59.1(6) by deduction, lump sum payment, instalment payment or otherwise, including

    • (i) the sending of notices,

    • (ii) the making of elections with respect to the manner of the recovery of amounts or otherwise,

    • (iii) the prescribing of bases as to mortality and interest,

    • (iv) the estimation of amounts and the reconciliation of amounts at the end of a year,

    • (v) the order of the allowances or benefits from which the amounts are recovered, and

    • (vi) the imposition of interest;

  • (i) for the purposes of the definition child in subsection 2(1), providing for the meaning of the expression full-time attendance at a school or university;

  • (j) respecting, for the purposes of the definition child in subsection 2(1), the circumstances under which attendance at a school or university by a child of a member or former member shall be deemed to be substantially without interruption;

  • (k) prescribing, for the purposes of the definition defined benefit limit in subsection 2(1), an amount in respect of the 1995 calendar year and any subsequent calendar year, which amount may be prescribed by reference to the regulations made under the Income Tax Act;

  • (l) prescribing, for the purposes of this Act, the manner of determining a portion of the member’s earnings limit for a year;

  • (l.1) [Repealed, 2003, c. 16, s. 9]

  • (m) respecting the elections that may be made under sections 25, 45 and 49.1, including regulations respecting

    • (i) the time, manner and circumstances in which an election may be made, revoked or deemed to have been revoked,

    • (ii) the reduction to be made in the amount of the allowances of a former member or former Prime Minister, as the case may be, when an election is made,

    • (iii) the amount of the allowance to which the person referred to in subsection 25(3), 45(3) or 49.1(2), as the case may be, is entitled, and

    • (iv) any other matter that the Governor in Council considers necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of those sections;

  • (m.1) and (m.2) [Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 184]

  • (n) prescribing anything that, by this Act, is to be prescribed; and

  • (o) for any other purpose deemed necessary to give effect to this Act.

• Marginal note:Retroactive regulations

  (2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may, if they so provide, be retroactive and have effect with respect to any period before they are made.

Marginal note:Valuation report

• 65 (1) In accordance with the Public Pensions Reporting Act, a cost certificate, a valuation report and an assets report relating to the Retiring Allowances Account shall be prepared, filed with the Minister designated under that Act and laid before Parliament.

• Marginal note:Review date

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection 3(3) of the Public Pensions Reporting Act, for the purposes of subsection (1), the review date as of which an actuarial review of the Retiring Allowances Account must be conducted for the purposes of the first valuation report completed after the coming into force of this subsection is March 31, 1995 instead of the date determined under subsection 3(3) of that Act, and thereafter the review dates must not be more than three years apart.