Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Canada Pension Plan.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  applicant

  requérant

  applicant means, in Part II,

  • (a) a person or an estate that has applied for a benefit,

  • (b) a person who has applied for a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or paragraph 55.1(1)(b) or (c), or

  • (c) a person in respect of whom a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings has been approved under paragraph 55.1(1)(a); (requérant)

  average monthly pensionable earnings

  moyenne mensuelle des gains ouvrant droit à pension

  average monthly pensionable earnings of a person means an amount calculated in accordance with section 47 or 48; (moyenne mensuelle des gains ouvrant droit à pension)

  balance-due day

  date d’exigibilité du solde

  balance-due day of a person for a year means

  • (a) where the person died after October in the year and before May in the immediately following year, the day that is 6 months after the day of death, and

  • (b) in any other case, April 30 in the immediately following year; (date d’exigibilité du solde)

  basic exemption

  exemption de base

  basic exemption of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 19; (exemption de base)

  beneficiary

  bénéficiaire

  beneficiary means a person, estate or other body to whom a benefit has become payable; (bénéficiaire)

  benefit

  prestation

  benefit means a benefit payable under this Act and includes a pension; (prestation)

  business

  entreprise

  business includes a profession, calling, trade, manufacture or undertaking of any kind whatever, and includes an adventure or concern in the nature of trade but does not include an office or employment; (entreprise)

  common-law partner

  conjoint de fait

  common-law partner, in relation to a contributor, means a person who is cohabiting with the contributor in a conjugal relationship at the relevant time, having so cohabited with the contributor for a continuous period of at least one year. For greater certainty, in the case of a contributor’s death, the “relevant time” means the time of the contributor’s death. (conjoint de fait)

  Consumer Price Index

  indice des prix à la consommation

  Consumer Price Index means the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act; (indice des prix à la consommation)

  contribution

  cotisation

  contribution means a contribution under this Act; (cotisation)

  contribution rate

  taux de cotisation

  contribution rate, in respect of an employee, an employer and a self-employed person for a year, means the contribution rate for that employee, employer and self-employed person for the year determined in accordance with or pursuant to this Act; (taux de cotisation)

  contributor

  cotisant

  contributor means a person who has made an employee’s contribution or a contribution in respect of his self-employed earnings, and includes a person the amount of whose earnings on which a contribution has been made for a year under this Act calculated as provided in subparagraph 53(b)(i) exceeds zero and a person to whom unadjusted pensionable earnings have been attributed under section 55, 55.1 or 55.2; (cotisant)

  contributory period

  période cotisable

  contributory period of a contributor has, subject to paragraph 44(2)(b) and subsection 56(5), the meaning assigned by section 49; (période cotisable)

  contributory salary and wages

  traitement et salaire cotisables

  contributory salary and wages of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 12; (traitement et salaire cotisables)

  contributory self-employed earnings

  gains cotisables provenant du travail qu’une personne exécute pour son propre compte

  contributory self-employed earnings of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 13; (gains cotisables provenant du travail qu’une personne exécute pour son propre compte)

  deduct

  déduire

  deduct includes withhold; (déduire)

  disabled

  invalide

  disabled has the meaning assigned by section 42; (invalide)

  employee

  employé

  employee includes an officer; (employé)

  employer

  employeur

  employer means a person liable to pay salary, wages or other remuneration for services performed in employment, and in relation to an officer includes the person from whom the officer receives his remuneration; (employeur)

  employment

  emploi

  employment means the performance of services under an express or implied contract of service or apprenticeship, and includes the tenure of an office; (emploi)

  excepted employment

  emploi excepté

  excepted employment means employment specified in subsection 6(2); (emploi excepté)

  maximum contributory earnings

  maximum des gains cotisables

  maximum contributory earnings of a person for a year has the meaning assigned by section 16; (maximum des gains cotisables)

  maximum pensionable earnings

  maximum des gains ouvrant droit à pension

  maximum pensionable earnings of a person for a year has the meaning assigned by section 17; (maximum des gains ouvrant droit à pension)

  office and officer

  fonction ou charge et fonctionnaire

  office means the position of an individual entitling him to a fixed or ascertainable stipend or remuneration and includes a judicial office, the office of a minister of the Crown, the office of a lieutenant governor, the office of a member of the Senate or House of Commons, a member of a legislative assembly or a member of a legislative or executive council and any other office the incumbent of which is elected by popular vote or is elected or appointed in a representative capacity, and also includes the position of a corporation director, and officer means a person holding such an office; (fonction ou charge et fonctionnaire)

  pension

  pension

  pension means a pension payable under this Act; (pension)

  Pension Appeals Board

  Commission d’appel des pensions

  Pension Appeals Board means the Pension Appeals Board established under section 83; (Commission d’appel des pensions)

  Pension Index

  indice de pension

  Pension Index has the meaning assigned by section 43; (indice de pension)

  pensionable employment

  emploi ouvrant droit à pension

  pensionable employment means employment specified in subsection 6(1); (emploi ouvrant droit à pension)

  prescribed

  prescrit

  prescribed means

  • (a) in the case of a form or the information to be given on a form, authorized by the Minister having the control and direction of the administration of the Part of this Act to which the context extends, and

  • (b) in any other case, prescribed by regulation or determined in accordance with rules prescribed by regulation; (prescrit)

  Record of Earnings

  registre des gains

  Record of Earnings means the Record of Earnings established under section 95; (registre des gains)

  representative

  représentant

  representative means, in respect of any person, a guardian, curator, committee, executor, liquidator of a succession, administrator or other legal representative of that person; (représentant)

  Review Committee

  Review Committee[Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 1]

  Review Tribunal

  tribunal de révision

  Review Tribunal means a Canada Pension Plan — Old Age Security Review Tribunal established under section 82; (tribunal de révision)

  salary and wages on which a contribution has been made

  traitement et salaire sur lesquels a été versée une cotisation

  salary and wages on which a contribution has been made for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 15; (traitement et salaire sur lesquels a été versée une cotisation)

  self-employed earnings

  gains provenant du travail qu’une personne exécute pour son propre compte

  self-employed earnings of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 14; (gains provenant du travail qu’une personne exécute pour son propre compte)

  Social Insurance Number and Social Insurance Number Card

  numéro d’assurance sociale et carte matricule d’assurance sociale

  Social Insurance Number means a Social Insurance Number assigned to an individual under the authority of any Act of Parliament, and Social Insurance Number Card means a Social Insurance Number Card issued to an individual under that authority; (numéro d’assurance sociale et carte matricule d’assurance sociale)

  spouse

  spouse[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 42]

  total pensionable earnings

  total des gains ouvrant droit à pension

  total pensionable earnings of a contributor means an amount calculated in accordance with section 50; (total des gains ouvrant droit à pension)

  total pensionable earnings of a contributor attributable to contributions made under this Act

  total des gains d’un cotisant ouvrant droit à pension, afférents à des cotisations versées selon la présente loi

  total pensionable earnings of a contributor attributable to contributions made under this Act means an amount calculated in accordance with section 78; (total des gains d’un cotisant ouvrant droit à pension, afférents à des cotisations versées selon la présente loi)

  unadjusted pensionable earnings

  gains non ajustés ouvrant droit à pension

  unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 53; (gains non ajustés ouvrant droit à pension)

  year

  année

  year means a calendar year; (année)

  Year’s Basic Exemption

  exemption de base de l’année

  Year’s Basic Exemption has the meaning assigned by section 20; (exemption de base de l’année)

  Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings

  maximum des gains annuels ouvrant droit à pension

  Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings has the meaning assigned by section 18. (maximum des gains annuels ouvrant droit à pension)

• Marginal note:When specified age deemed to be reached

  (2) For the purposes of any provision of this Act in which reference is made to the reaching by a person of a specified age, other than a reference in paragraph 44(3)(a), section 70 and paragraph 72(c), the person shall be deemed to have reached the specified age at the beginning of the month following the month in which the person actually reached that age, and in computing

  • (a) any period of months ending with the time when he reached a specified age, the month in which he actually reached that age shall be included; and

  • (b) any period of months commencing with the time when he reached a specified age, the month in which he actually reached that age shall not be included.

Application and Operation of Act

Marginal note:Definitions

• 3 (1) In this Act,

  province providing a comprehensive pension plan

  province instituant un régime général de pensions

  province providing a comprehensive pension plan means a province prescribed by a regulation made on the recommendation of the Minister of Social Development for the purposes of this Act as a province

  • (a) the government of which has, on or before May 3, 1965, signified the intention of that province to provide for the establishment and operation in that province, in lieu of the operation therein of this Act, of a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits providing for the making of contributions thereunder commencing with the year 1966 and providing for the payment of benefits thereunder comparable to those provided by this Act, or

  • (b) the government of which has, at any time after May 3, 1965, given notice in writing to the Minister of Social Development of the intention of that province to provide

    • (i) for the establishment and operation in that province, in lieu of the operation therein of this Act, of a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits providing for the making of contributions thereunder commencing with the third year following the year in which the notice was given and providing for the payment of benefits thereunder comparable to those then provided by this Act or by any provincial pension plan other than that plan, and

    • (ii) for the assumption under that plan of all obligations and liabilities accrued or accruing to the first day of that third year with respect to the payment of benefits under this Act attributable to contributions made under this Act in respect of employment in that province or in respect of self-employed earnings of persons resident in that province; (province instituant un régime général de pensions)

  provincial pension plan

  régime provincial de pensions

  provincial pension plan means a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits for the establishment and operation of which provision has been made as described in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan under a law of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan. (régime provincial de pensions)

• Marginal note:Prescription of province after notice given

  (2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), where, not later than twelve months before the first day of the third year following the year in which notice in writing as described in paragraph (b) of the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan in subsection (1) was given to the Minister of Social Development by the government of a province, the legislature of the province has provided by law for the establishment and operation in that province of a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits as described in that paragraph and for the assumption under that plan of all obligations and liabilities accrued or accruing as described in that paragraph, the Governor in Council shall, by regulation made on the recommendation of the Minister of Social Development for the purposes of this Act, prescribe that province as a province described in that paragraph.

• Marginal note:Effective date of prescription

  (3) Any regulation made pursuant to subsection (2) becomes effective on the first day of the third year following the year in which the notice referred to in that subsection was given to the Minister of Social Development.

Marginal note:Application in respect of province providing comprehensive pension plan

• 4 (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, except as provided in subsection (2),

  • (a) the provisions of this Act with respect to the making of contributions by employees and employers in respect of pensionable employment and the provisions of Part III with respect to employees in pensionable employment do not apply in relation to employment in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan; and

  • (b) the provisions of this Act with respect to the making of contributions by persons for any year in respect of self-employed earnings do not apply in relation to persons who on the last day of that year were resident in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), all of the provisions of this Act apply to

  • (a) employment by Her Majesty in right of Canada or by an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan, and

  • (b) any employment in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan if and to the extent that the establishment and operation of the plan referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan in subsection 3(1), as the case may be, in relation to persons employed in that employment is outside the legislative authority of the legislature of that province,

  as though that employment were employment in a province other than a province providing a comprehensive pension plan.

• Marginal note:Agreement with government of province providing comprehensive pension plan

  (3) The Minister of Social Development, with the approval of the Governor in Council, may on behalf of the Government of Canada enter into an agreement with the government of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan whereby, in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be set out in the agreement, any persons employed in employment described in subsection (2), and any employers of any persons employed in such employment, with respect to any persons so employed, shall be subject to the provisions of the provincial pension plan of that province in all respects as though the establishment and operation of that plan in relation to any persons so employed were within the legislative authority of the legislature of that province, and with respect to any period while the agreement continues in force, the agreement has the force of law according to the provisions thereof.

• Marginal note:Province in which person deemed employed

  (4) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to be employed in the province in which the establishment of his employer to which he reports for work is situated, and where the employee is not required to report for work at any establishment of his employer, he shall be deemed to be employed in the province in which the establishment of his employer from which his remuneration is paid is situated.

• Marginal note:Reference to last day of year

  (5) A reference in paragraph (1)(b) to the last day of a year shall, in the case of a person who resided in Canada at any time in that year but ceased to reside in Canada before the last day thereof, be deemed to be a reference to the last day in that year on which he resided in Canada.

Electronic Alternatives

Marginal note:Power of Ministers

4.1 The Minister of Social Development and the Minister of National Revenue may use electronic means to create, communicate, make available, collect, receive, store or otherwise deal with documents or information under this Act.

PART IContributions

Marginal note:Definition of Minister

• 5 (1) In this Part, Minister means the Minister of National Revenue.

• Marginal note:Delegation

  (2) The Minister may authorize an officer or a class of officers to exercise powers or perform duties of the Minister under this Part.

DIVISION AContributions Payable

Pensionable Employment

Marginal note:Pensionable employment

• 6 (1) Pensionable employment is

  • (a) employment in Canada that is not excepted employment;

  • (b) employment in Canada under Her Majesty in right of Canada that is not excepted employment; or

  • (c) employment included in pensionable employment by a regulation made under section 7.

• Marginal note:Excepted employment

  (2) Excepted employment is

  • (a) employment in agriculture or an agricultural enterprise, horticulture, fishing, hunting, trapping, forestry, logging or lumbering by an employer who either pays the employee less than two hundred and fifty dollars in cash remuneration in a year or employs the employee, on terms providing for payment of cash remuneration, for a period of less than twenty-five working days in a year;

  • (b) employment of a casual nature otherwise than for the purpose of the employer’s trade or business;

  • (c) employment as a teacher on exchange from a country other than Canada;

  • (d) employment of a person by the person’s spouse or common-law partner, unless the remuneration paid to the person may be deducted under the Income Tax Act in computing the income of the spouse or common-law partner;

  • (e) employment of a member of a religious order who has taken a vow of perpetual poverty and whose remuneration is paid either directly or by the member to the order;

  • (f) employment for which no cash remuneration is paid where the person employed is the child of, or is maintained by, the employer;

  • (g) employment as a member of the Canadian Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, except as provided by any other Act of Parliament;

  • (h) employment in Canada by an employer who employs persons in Canada but under the terms of a reciprocal agreement between the Government of Canada and the government of another country is exempt from liability to make the contribution imposed on an employer by this Act;

  • (i) employment by Her Majesty in right of a province or by an agent of Her Majesty in right of a province;

  • (j) employment in Canada by the government of a country other than Canada or by an international organization;

  • (j.1) employment of an Indian, as defined in the Indian Act, in respect of which the earnings are not included in computing income for purposes of the Income Tax Act; or

  • (k) employment excepted from pensionable employment by a regulation made under section 7.

Marginal note:Regulations respecting employment to be included in pensionable employment

• 7 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for including in pensionable employment

  • (a) any employment outside Canada or partly outside Canada, being employment that would be pensionable employment if it were in Canada;

  • (b) the entire employment under one employer of a person who is engaged by the employer partly in pensionable employment and partly in other employment;

  • (c) any employment if it appears to the Governor in Council that the nature of the work performed is similar to the work performed by persons employed in pensionable employment;

  • (d) the performance of services for remuneration if it appears to the Governor in Council that the terms or conditions on which the services are performed and the remuneration is paid are analogous to a contract of service, whether or not they constitute a contract of service;

  • (e) pursuant to an agreement with the government of a province, employment in Canada by Her Majesty in right of the province or by an agent of Her Majesty in right of the province;

  • (f) pursuant to an agreement with the employing government or organization, employment in Canada by the government of a country other than Canada or by an international organization; and

  • (g) any excepted employment other than employment described in paragraph 6(2)(g) or (i).

• Marginal note:Regulations respecting employment to be excepted from pensionable employment

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations for excepting from pensionable employment

  • (a) any employment if it appears to the Governor in Council by reason of the laws of any country other than Canada that a duplication of contributions or benefits will result;

  • (b) any employment of a person by an employer resident outside Canada unless arrangements satisfactory to the Minister have been made for the payment of the contributions required by this Act to be made in respect of that employment;

  • (c) the entire employment under one employer of a person who is engaged by the employer partly in pensionable employment and partly in other employment;

  • (d) any employment if it appears to the Governor in Council that the nature of the work performed by persons employed in that employment is similar to the nature of the work performed by persons employed in employment that is not pensionable employment;

  • (e) any employment if it appears to the Governor in Council that the services are performed and the remuneration is paid in a manner analogous to the earning of income from the carrying on of a business; and

  • (f) any employment in which persons are ordinarily employed to an inconsiderable extent.

• Marginal note:Extent of authority to make regulations

  (3) A regulation made under subsection (1) or (2) may be conditional or unconditional, qualified or unqualified, and may be general or restricted to a specific area, a person or a group or class of persons, and the authority conferred by subsection (1) to make regulations to include in pensionable employment any employment described in that subsection includes authority to make such other regulations to provide for the manner in which the provisions of this Act shall apply with respect thereto, and to adapt the provisions of this Act with respect thereto, as appear to the Governor in Council to be necessary to give effect to the regulations made under that subsection.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (4) No regulation under this section shall require the payment of an employer’s contribution by the government of a country other than Canada or by an international organization unless the regulation is made pursuant to an agreement referred to in paragraph (1)(f).

Contributions by Employees and Employers in respect of Pensionable Employment

Marginal note:Amount of employee’s contribution

• 8 (1) Every employee who is employed by an employer in pensionable employment shall, by deduction as provided in this Act from the remuneration for the pensionable employment paid to the employee by the employer, make an employee’s contribution for the year in which the remuneration is paid to the employee of an amount equal to the product obtained when the contribution rate for employees for the year is multiplied by the lesser of

  • (a) the employee’s contributory salary and wages for the year paid by the employer, minus such amount as or on account of the basic exemption for the year as is prescribed, and

  • (b) the employee’s maximum contributory earnings for the year, minus such amount, if any, as is determined in prescribed manner to be the employee’s salary and wages paid by the employer on which a contribution has been made for the year by the employee under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:Contributions for 1997

  (1.1) Notwithstanding subsection (1), for 1997 the contribution required by that subsection, in this subsection referred to as the “basic contribution”, shall be calculated as though the contribution rate for employees were 2.925% and every employee who is required to make a contribution under that subsection shall make an additional contribution of an amount equal to 1/39 of the basic contribution.

• Marginal note:Interest on unpaid additional contributions

  (1.2) Where the amount paid by an employee on or before the employee’s balance-due day for a year on account of the additional contribution required to be made under subsection (1.1) is less than the amount of the additional contribution required to be made, interest at a prescribed rate per annum is payable by the employee on the difference between those amounts from the balance-due day for the year to the day of payment.

• Marginal note:Application of certain provisions

  (1.3) Subsection 30(1) and sections 32, 36 and 37 apply in respect of the additional contribution required to be made under subsection (1.1) as though it were a contribution required to be made under this Act in respect of self-employed earnings.

• Marginal note:Amount of overpayment

  (2) Where the aggregate of all amounts deducted as required from the remuneration of an employee for a year whether by one or more employers on account of the employee’s contribution for the year under this Act or under a provincial pension plan exceeds an amount equal to the product obtained when the contribution rate for employees for the year is multiplied by the lesser of

  • (a) the employee’s contributory salary and wages for the year, plus the employee’s contributory self-employed earnings for the year in the case of an individual described in section 10, minus the employee’s basic exemption for the year, and

  • (b) the employee’s maximum contributory earnings for the year,

  that proportion of the amount of the excess that the aggregate of all amounts so deducted on account of the employee’s contribution for the year under this Act is of the aggregate of all amounts so deducted on account of the employee’s contribution for the year under this Act or under a provincial pension plan shall be deemed to be an overpayment made by the employee on account of the employee’s contribution for that year under this Act.

Marginal note:Amount of employer’s contribution

• 9 (1) Every employer shall, in respect of each employee employed by the employer in pensionable employment, make an employer’s contribution for the year in which remuneration for the pensionable employment is paid to the employee of an amount equal to the product obtained when the contribution rate for employers for the year is multiplied by the lesser of

  • (a) the contributory salary and wages of the employee for the year paid by the employer, minus such amount as or on account of the employee’s basic exemption for the year as is prescribed, and

  • (b) the maximum contributory earnings of the employee for the year, minus such amount, if any, as is determined in prescribed manner to be the salary and wages of the employee on which a contribution has been made for the year by the employer with respect to the employee under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:Succession of employers

  (2) If, in a year after 2003, one employer immediately succeeds another as the employer of an employee as a result of the formation or dissolution of a corporation or the acquisition — with the agreement of the former employer or by operation of law — of all or part of a business of the former employer, the successor employer may, for the application of subsections (1) and 8(1) and section 21, take into account the amounts paid, deducted, remitted or contributed under this Act by the former employer in respect of the year in relation to the employment of the employee as if they had been paid, deducted, remitted or contributed by the successor employer. If the employer takes those amounts into account with respect to the employer’s contributions, the employer shall also take them into account with respect to the employee’s contributions.

• Marginal note:Self-employment succeeded by employment

  (3) For the application of subsections (1) and 8(1) and section 21, if a person, in a year after 2003, is self-employed, ceases to be self-employed and becomes an employee of a corporation controlled by the person, the corporation may

  • (a) take into account the amount of contributory self-employed earnings of the person in the year as contributory salary and wages paid by the corporation to the employee in that year; and

  • (b) take into account one half of the contributions by the person in respect of self-employed earnings in the year as an amount deducted, remitted or contributed in relation to employee’s contributions for that year, and one half of that amount as an amount remitted or contributed in relation to employer’s contributions for that year.

Contributions by Persons in respect of Self-Employed Earnings

Marginal note:Amount of contribution in respect of self-employed earnings

• 10 (1) Every individual who is resident in Canada for the purposes of the Income Tax Act during a year and who has contributory self-employed earnings for the year shall make a contribution for the year of an amount equal to the product obtained when the contribution rate for self-employed persons for the year is multiplied by the lesser of

  • (a) the individual’s contributory self-employed earnings for the year, minus the amount by which the individual’s basic exemption for the year exceeds the aggregate of

    • (i) all amounts deducted as prescribed on account of the individual’s basic exemption for the year whether by one or more employers pursuant to section 8, and

    • (ii) all amounts deducted as prescribed by or under a provincial pension plan on account of any like exemption for the year whether by one or more employers pursuant to that plan, and

  • (b) the individual’s maximum contributory earnings for the year, minus the individual’s salary and wages, if any, on which a contribution has been made for the year and such amount, if any, as is determined in prescribed manner to be the individual’s salary and wages on which a contribution has been made for the year by the individual under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:Employment succeeded by self-employment

  (2) For the purpose of subsection (1), if a person, in a year after 2003, is an employee of a corporation controlled by the person, ceases to be employed by that corporation and becomes self-employed, the person may

  • (a) take into account the amount of contributory salary and wages paid by the corporation to the employee in the year as contributory self-employed earnings of the person in the year; and

  • (b) take into account the amounts deducted, remitted or contributed by the corporation in relation to the employee’s contributions and the employer’s contributions in respect of the person for the year as contributions by the person in respect of self-employment earnings in that year.

Marginal note:Election not to contribute in respect of self-employed earnings

• 11 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (5), section 10 does not apply with respect to any year in respect of any individual who, being a member of a religious sect or a division of a religious sect certified by the Minister pursuant to subsection (6), elects not to make a contribution with respect to that year.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) An election referred to in subsection (1) shall

  • (a) be made in such manner and form as may be prescribed;

  • (b) commence to have effect, if approved by the Minister, on and from January 1 of the year in which the election is filed with the Minister; and

  • (c) cease to have effect on January 1 of the year next following the day on which a revocation of the election made in prescribed manner is received by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Minister to be satisfied

  (3) The Minister shall approve an election referred to in subsection (1) where he is satisfied that

  • (a) the person making the election

    • (i) is a member of a religious sect or a division of a religious sect that has been certified pursuant to subsection (6), and

    • (ii) has been certified as such a member by a spokesman for that sect or division; and

  • (b) the spokesman

    • (i) has been authorized by the sect or division to certify persons as being members of the sect or division, and

    • (ii) has certified that the sect or division maintains tenets, teachings and practices of kinds referred to in subparagraphs (6)(a)(i) and (ii).

• Marginal note:Return of contribution

  (4) Any contribution made by a contributor with respect to a year for which he elects under this section not to make a contribution shall, on application, be returned to him.

• Marginal note:Only one election permitted

  (5) Where an individual who has elected not to make a contribution with respect to any year revokes the election, he may not make an election under this section with respect to any subsequent year.

• Marginal note:Certification of religious sect or division

  (6) The Minister shall certify a religious sect or a division of a religious sect for the purposes of this section where

  • (a) he is satisfied that the religious sect

    • (i) is a religious organization that has established tenets and teachings that oppose the acceptance of benefits from any private or public insurance that provides for payments in the event of death, disability, old age or retirement,

    • (ii) does, as a practice, make provisions for the support of dependent members that are reasonable in view of their general level of living, and

    • (iii) was in existence in Canada on January 1, 1966 and has been maintaining the tenets, teachings and practices referred to in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) since that date; and

  • (b) the religious sect or division thereof has applied to him in prescribed form for certification.

DIVISION BCalculation of Contributions

Contribution Rate

Marginal note:Contribution rate — 1966 to 1986

• 11.1 (1) The contribution rate for the years 1966 to 1986 is:

  • (a) for employees, 1.8% of contributory wages and salaries;

  • (b) for employers, 1.8% of contributory wages and salaries; and

  • (c) for self-employed persons, 3.6% of contributory self-employed earnings.

• Marginal note:Contribution rates after 1986

  (2) The contribution rate for employees, employers and self-employed persons for 1987 and subsequent years is as set out in the schedule, as amended from time to time pursuant to section 113.1.

Contributory Salary and Wages

Marginal note:Amount of contributory salary and wages

• 12 (1) The amount of the contributory salary and wages of a person for a year is the person’s income for the year from pensionable employment, computed in accordance with the Income Tax Act (read without reference to subsection 7(8) of that Act), plus any deductions for the year made in computing that income otherwise than under paragraph 8(1)(c) of that Act, but does not include any such income received by the person

  • (a) before he reaches eighteen years of age;

  • (b) during any month that is excluded from that person’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability; or

  • (c) after he reaches seventy years of age or after a retirement pension becomes payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) In the case of a person who is a contributor under the Public Service Superannuation Act, there shall be included in computing the amount of that person’s contributory salary and wages for a year the amount of his salary, as defined in that Act, that is not otherwise included in computing income for the purposes of the Income Tax Act.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2.1) In the case of an Indian, as defined in the Indian Act, to the extent provided by regulations pursuant to subsection 7(1) and subject to any conditions prescribed by those regulations, there shall be included in computing the amount of that person’s contributory salary and wages for a year the amount of his income from employment that would otherwise be excepted pursuant to paragraph 6(2)(j.1).

• Marginal note:Remuneration paid in respect of employment in province

  (3) A reference in this Act to the contributory salary and wages of a person for a year shall, in relation to any remuneration paid to him in respect of pensionable employment in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan, be construed as a reference to his income for the year from that employment as that income is required to be computed under the provincial pension plan of that province.

Contributory Self-Employed Earnings

Marginal note:Amount of contributory self-employed earnings

• 13 (1) The amount of the contributory self-employed earnings of a person for a year is the amount of his self-employed earnings for the year except that, for a year in which he reaches eighteen or seventy years of age, in which a retirement pension becomes payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, in which his contributory period ends under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability or in which a disability pension ceases to be payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, the amount of his contributory self-employed earnings is an amount equal to that proportion of the amount of his self-employed earnings for the year that the number of months in the year

  • (a) after

    • (i) he reaches eighteen years of age, or

    • (ii) the disability pension ceases to be payable, or

  • (b) before

    • (i) he reaches seventy years of age,

    • (ii) the retirement pension becomes payable, or

    • (iii) the month following the month in which his contributory period ends under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability,

  is of twelve.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Subject to subsection (1), the contributory self-employed earnings of a person do not include earnings with respect to any period described in paragraph 12(1)(a), (b) or (c).

• Marginal note:Election to include certain earnings

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the amount of the contributory self-employed earnings of a person for a year for the purposes of section 10 shall, if the person or their representative so elects in the prescribed manner within one year from June 15 in the following year, include any amount by which

  • (a) the lesser of

    • (i) his contributory salary and wages for the year, and

    • (ii) his maximum pensionable earnings for the year,

  exceeds

  • (b) the aggregate of

    • (i) his salary and wages on which a contribution has been made for the year and such amount, if any, as is determined in prescribed manner to be his salary and wages on which a contribution has been made for the year by him under a provincial pension plan, and

    • (ii) the lesser of

      • (A) the aggregate of all amounts deducted as prescribed on account of his basic exemption for the year by one or more employers pursuant to section 8 and all amounts deducted as prescribed by or under a provincial pension plan on account of any like exemption for the year by one or more employers pursuant to such a plan, and

      • (B) his basic exemption for the year.

• Marginal note:Self-employed earnings where resident in province

  (4) A reference in this Act to the contributory self-employed earnings of a person for a year shall, in relation to any self-employed earnings of a person who was resident on the last day of the year in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan, be construed as a reference to his self-employed earnings for the year as such earnings are required to be computed under the provincial pension plan of that province.

Marginal note:Amount of self-employed earnings for a year

14 The amount of the self-employed earnings of a person for a year is the aggregate of

• (a) an amount equal to

  • (i) his income for the year from all businesses, other than a business more than fifty per cent of the gross revenue of which consisted of rent from land or buildings, carried on by him,

  minus

  • (ii) all losses sustained by him in the year in carrying on those businesses,

  as such income and losses are computed under the Income Tax Act, except any such income or losses from the performance of services described in paragraph 7(1)(d) that has been included in pensionable employment by a regulation made under subsection 7(1) or by a regulation made under a provincial pension plan,

• (b) his income for the year from employment described in paragraph 7(2)(e) that has been excepted from pensionable employment by a regulation made under subsection 7(2) or by a regulation made under a provincial pension plan, as that income is computed under the Income Tax Act, and

• (c) in the case of an Indian, as defined in the Indian Act, to the extent provided by regulations and subject to any conditions prescribed by those regulations, his income for the year from self-employment on a reserve, as defined in the Indian Act, that is not otherwise included in computing income for the purposes of the Income Tax Act.

Marginal note:Idem

14.1 For the purposes of paragraph 14(a), where a member of a family in a congregation is specified in an election under subsection 143(2) of the Income Tax Act for a year, such part of the total of all amounts allocated to the family under that subsection for the year as may reasonably be regarded as having been derived from a business carried on by the congregation shall be deemed to be the member’s income (as computed under that Act) from such a business carried on by the member.

Salary and Wages on which Contribution made

Marginal note:Amount of salary and wages on which contribution made for a year

• 15 (1) The amount of the salary and wages of a person on which a contribution has been made for a year is an amount equal to

  • (a) the aggregate of all amounts deducted as required from the remuneration of that person on account of the employee’s contribution for the year under this Act, minus the amount of any refund made to him under section 38 in respect of any amounts so deducted on account thereof, or such part of the amount of any refund in respect thereof made to him as described in section 39 as might have been made to him under subsection 38(1) if no agreement had been entered into under subsection 39(1), and

  • (b) where an employer has failed to deduct an amount as required from the remuneration of that person on account of the employee’s contribution for the year under this Act and that person has notified the Minister of the employer’s failure so to deduct that amount on or before April 30 in the following year, an amount equal to the amount that should have been so deducted by the employer on account thereof,

  divided by the contribution rate for employees for the year.

• Marginal note:Effect of payment by employer of amount not deducted as required

  (2) For the purposes of subsection 8(2) and this section, where an amount that an employer has failed to deduct as required from the remuneration of an employee on account of the employee’s contribution for a year under this Act is paid by the employer on account of the employee’s contribution for that year under this Act, the amount so paid shall be deemed to have been deducted by the employer on account of that contribution.

• Marginal note:Special rule applicable in prescribed circumstances

  (3) Where an employer has filed a return pursuant to this Part showing an amount as the salary and wages on which a contribution has been made by an employee for a year under this Act, the amount so shown, multiplied by the contribution rate for employees for the year, may, in prescribed circumstances, be substituted for the amount shown therein as the aggregate of the amounts deducted by that employer on account of the employee’s contribution for the year under this Act, in calculating the amount to be determined under subsection (1).

Maximum Contributory Earnings

Marginal note:Amount of maximum contributory earnings for a year

16 The amount of the maximum contributory earnings of a person for a year is the amount of his maximum pensionable earnings for the year, minus the amount of his basic exemption for the year.

Maximum Pensionable Earnings

Marginal note:Amount of maximum pensionable earnings

17 The amount of the maximum pensionable earnings of a person for a year is the amount of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings except that, for a year in which he reaches eighteen or seventy years of age or dies, in which a retirement pension becomes payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, in which his contributory period ends under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability or in which a disability pension ceases to be payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, the amount of his maximum pensionable earnings is an amount equal to that proportion of the amount of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings that the number of months in the year

• (a) after

  • (i) he reaches eighteen years of age, or

  • (ii) the disability pension ceases to be payable, or

• (b) before

  • (i) he reaches seventy years of age,

  • (ii) the retirement pension becomes payable,

  • (iii) he dies, or

  • (iv) the month following the month in which his contributory period ends under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability,

including, where he dies, the month in which he dies, is of twelve.

Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings

Marginal note:Amount of Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings

• 18 (1) The amount of a Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings is

  • (a) for 1987, $25,900;

  • (b) subject to subsection (2), for 1988, an amount calculated by multiplying the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for 1987 by the ratio that

    • (i) the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30, 1987 of the Wage Measure for each month in that period

    bears to

    • (ii) the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30, 1986 of the Wage Measure for each month in that period; and

  • (c) subject to subsection (2), for 1989 and each subsequent year, an amount calculated by multiplying the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the preceding year, calculated without reference to subsections (2) and (3), by the ratio that

    • (i) the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year of the Wage Measure for each month in that period

    bears to

    • (ii) the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30 of the year immediately preceding the preceding year of the Wage Measure for each month in that period.

• Marginal note:Rounding off

  (2) Where the amount calculated in accordance with paragraph (1)(b) or (c) for any year is not a multiple of one hundred dollars, the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for that year is the amount that is the next multiple of one hundred dollars below that amount.

• Marginal note:Minimum amount of Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings

  (3) Where the amount calculated in accordance with paragraph (1)(b) or (c) in respect of any year is less than the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the preceding year, it shall be increased to the amount of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the preceding year.

• (4) [Repealed, 1991, c. 44, s. 2]

• Marginal note:Wage Measure

  (5) The Wage Measure for a month is the average weekly wages and salaries of

  • (a) the Industrial Aggregate in Canada for the month as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act; or

  • (b) in the event that the Industrial Aggregate ceases to be published, such other measure as is prescribed by regulation for the month as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (6) For the purpose of calculating the amount of a Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings, where Statistics Canada has published any revisions of the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for any month, the revision of the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) that has been published most recently prior to the calculation in respect of that month shall be used in calculating the amount of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings.

• Marginal note:Adjustment of Industrial Aggregate

  (7) Where, at any time after the coming into force of this section, a new time or content basis is adopted by Statistics Canada in determining the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for a month and the adoption of that new basis would cause a difference between

  • (a) the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30 of any year of the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for each month in that period calculated pursuant to this section on the former time or content basis, as the case may be, and

  • (b) the average for that twelve month period of the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for each month in that period calculated pursuant to this section on the new time or content basis, as the case may be,

  of more than one per cent of the average for that twelve month period of the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for each month in that period calculated pursuant to this section on the former time or content basis, the average for that twelve month period calculated on the new time or content basis shall be adjusted by the Minister, on the advice of the Chief Statistician of Canada, to reflect the former time or content basis, and any other averages that are calculated in determining the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the year following that twelve month period shall be adjusted accordingly.

• Marginal note:Limitation on adjustment

  (8) Subsection (7) shall cease to apply when the Industrial Aggregate or the other measure referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for a month has been calculated on the new time or content basis referred to in that subsection for a period of twenty-four consecutive months ending on June 30 of a year.

Basic Exemption

Marginal note:Amount of basic exemption

19 The amount of the basic exemption of a person for a year is the amount of the Year’s Basic Exemption except that, for a year in which he reaches eighteen or seventy years of age or dies, in which a retirement pension becomes payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, in which his contributory period ends under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability or in which a disability pension ceases to be payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, the amount of his basic exemption is an amount equal to that proportion of the amount of the Year’s Basic Exemption that the number of months in the year

• (a) after

  • (i) he reaches eighteen years of age, or

  • (ii) the disability pension ceases to be payable, or

• (b) before

  • (i) he reaches seventy years of age,

  • (ii) the retirement pension becomes payable,

  • (iii) he dies, or

  • (iv) the month following the month in which his contributory period ends under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability,

including, where he dies, the month in which he dies, is of twelve.

Year’s Basic Exemption

Marginal note:Amount of Year’s Basic Exemption

• 20 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the amount of a Year’s Basic Exemption is the highest multiple of $100 that is less than or equal to 10% of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the year.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) For each year after 1997 the amount of a Year’s Basic Exemption is $3,500.

DIVISION CCollection of Contributions

Employees and Employers

Marginal note:Amount to be deducted and remitted by employer

• 21 (1) Every employer paying remuneration to an employee employed by the employer at any time in pensionable employment shall deduct from that remuneration as or on account of the employee’s contribution for the year in which the remuneration for the pensionable employment is paid to the employee such amount as is determined in accordance with prescribed rules and shall remit that amount, together with such amount as is prescribed with respect to the contribution required to be made by the employer under this Act, to the Receiver General at such time as is prescribed and, where at that prescribed time the employer is a prescribed person, the remittance shall be made to the account of the Receiver General at a financial institution (within the meaning that would be assigned by the definition “financial institution” in subsection 190(1) of the Income Tax Act if that definition were read without reference to paragraphs (d) and (e) thereof).

• Marginal note:Liability for failure to deduct and remit

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), every employer who fails to deduct and remit an amount from the remuneration of an employee as and when required under subsection (1) is liable to pay to Her Majesty the whole amount that should have been deducted and remitted from the time it should have been deducted.

• Marginal note:Subsequent decision — limit on liability

  (3) An employer is not liable for any amount that the employer fails to deduct as required by this Act from the remuneration of an employee, or for any interest or penalties for that failure, if

  • (a) the employer is informed in writing in a ruling under section 26.1 that the employer is not required to make the deduction;

  • (b) the ruling is not based on information provided by the employer to the Minister that was incorrect in a material particular; and

  • (c) it is subsequently decided under subsection 27.2(3) or section 28 that the deduction should have been made.

• Marginal note:Subsequent decision — other consequences

  (3.1) Once the decision under subsection 27.2(3) or section 28 is communicated to the employer, the employer is liable without interest or penalties under this Act to pay the contribution required to be paid by the employer with respect to the employee. On payment by the employer of any amount as or on account of that contribution, the employee is deemed to have notified the Minister as required by paragraph 15(1)(b) of the employer’s failure to deduct the amount of that contribution from the remuneration of the employee.

• Marginal note:Deduction from subsequent payment of remuneration

  (4) Any employer who fails to deduct an amount that is required by subsection (1) to be deducted from a payment of remuneration to an employee may deduct an amount equal to the amount from any subsequent payment of remuneration made to the employee within 12 months after the making of the payment from which the amount was required to be deducted, but no employer may deduct from a payment of remuneration made to an employee, in addition to the amount required by subsection (1) to be deducted therefrom, any amount with respect to more than one such amount that the employer previously failed to deduct.

• Marginal note:Amount deducted deemed received by employee

  (5) Where an amount has been deducted under subsection (1), it shall be deemed for all purposes to have been received at that time by the employee to whom the remuneration was payable.

• Marginal note:Interest on amounts not remitted

  (6) Where an employer has failed to remit to the Receiver General an amount that the employer was required to remit at the time when he was required to do so, the employer shall pay to the Receiver General interest on that amount at the prescribed rate computed from the day on which the employer was so required to remit the amount to the day of remittance of the amount to the Receiver General.

• Marginal note:Penalty for failure to remit

  (7) Every employer who in a calendar year fails to remit to the Receiver General an amount that the employer is required to remit at the time when he is required to do so is liable to a penalty of

  • (a) ten per cent of the amount; or

  • (b) where at the time of the failure a penalty under this subsection was payable by the employer in respect of an amount that the employer was required to remit during the year and the failure was made knowingly or under circumstances amounting to gross negligence, twenty per cent of the amount.

Marginal note:Liability

• 21.1 (1) If an employer who fails to deduct or remit an amount as and when required under subsection 21(1) is a corporation, the persons who were the directors of the corporation at the time when the failure occurred are jointly and severally or solidarily liable, together with the corporation, to pay to Her Majesty that amount and any interest or penalties relating to it.

• Marginal note:Application of Income Tax Act provisions

  (2) Subsections 227.1(2) to (7) of the Income Tax Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of a director of a corporation referred to in subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Assessment provisions applicable to directors

  (3) The provisions of this Act respecting the assessment of an employer for an amount payable by the employer under this Act and respecting the rights and obligations of an employer so assessed apply in respect of a director of a corporation in respect of an amount payable by the director under subsection (1) in the same manner and to the same extent as if the director were the employer referred to in those provisions.

Marginal note:Minister may assess amount payable

• 22 (1) The Minister may assess an employer for an amount payable by him under this Act, or may re-assess the employer or make additional assessments as the circumstances require, and the expression assessment when used in this Act with reference to any action so taken by the Minister under this section includes any such re-assessment or additional assessment.

• Marginal note:Notice of assessment and liability of employer

  (2) After assessing an employer for an amount payable by him under this Act, the Minister shall send the employer a notice of assessment, and on that notice being sent to the employer, the assessment shall be deemed to be valid and binding, subject to being varied or vacated on appeal under this Act, and the employer is liable to pay to Her Majesty the amount thereof forthwith.

• Marginal note:Limitation on assessments

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) or (2), no assessment, re-assessment or additional assessment of an amount payable by an employer under this Act may be made by the Minister under this section after four years have elapsed from the earliest of the days on or before which any contribution in relation to which that amount is payable should have been paid, unless the employer has made any misrepresentation or committed any fraud in filing any return or in supplying any information pursuant to this Part in relation thereto.

Marginal note:Recovery of contributions, etc., as debt due to Her Majesty

• 23 (1) All contributions, interest, penalties and other amounts payable by a person under this Act are debts due to Her Majesty and recoverable as such in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided for by this Act.

• Marginal note:Application of Income Tax Act provisions

  (2) Section 160, subsections 161(11) and 220(3.1), (4) and (5), sections 221.1 and 223 to 224.3, subsections 227(9.1) and (10), sections 229, 236 and 244 (except subsections 244(1) and (4)) and subsections 248(7) and (11) of the Income Tax Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in relation to all contributions, interest, penalties and other amounts payable by a person under this Act, and for the purposes of this subsection,

  • (a) the reference in subsection 224(1.2) of that Act to “subsection 227(10.1) or a similar provision” shall be read as a reference to “section 22 of the Canada Pension Plan”; and

  • (b) subsection 224(1.2) of the Income Tax Act shall apply to employer’s contributions, employee’s contributions, and related interest, penalties or other amounts, subject to subsections 69(1) and 69.1(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and section 11.4 of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

• Marginal note:Where amount deducted not remitted

  (3) Where an employer has deducted an amount from the remuneration of an employee as or on account of any contribution required to be made by the employee but has not remitted the amount to the Receiver General, the employer is deemed, notwithstanding any security interest (as defined in subsection 224(1.3) of the Income Tax Act) in the amount so deducted, to hold the amount separate and apart from the property of the employer and from property held by any secured creditor (as defined in subsection 224(1.3) of the Income Tax Act) of that employer that but for the security interest would be property of the employer, in trust for Her Majesty and for payment to Her Majesty in the manner and at the time provided under this Act.

• Marginal note:Extension of trust

  (4) Notwithstanding the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (except sections 81.1 and 81.2 of that Act), any other enactment of Canada, any enactment of a province or any other law, where at any time an amount deemed by subsection (3) to be held by an employer in trust for Her Majesty is not paid to Her Majesty in the manner and at the time provided under this Act, property of the employer and property held by any secured creditor (as defined in subsection 224(1.3) of the Income Tax Act) of that employer that but for a security interest (as defined in subsection 224(1.3) of the Income Tax Act) would be property of the employer, equal in value to the amount so deemed to be held in trust is deemed

  • (a) to be held, from the time the amount was deducted by the employer, separate and apart from the property of the employer, in trust for Her Majesty whether or not the property is subject to such a security interest, and

  • (b) to form no part of the estate or property of the employer from the time the amount was so deducted, whether or not the property has in fact been kept separate and apart from the estate or property of the employer and whether or not the property is subject to such a security interest

  and is property beneficially owned by Her Majesty notwithstanding any security interest in such property or in the proceeds thereof, and the proceeds of such property shall be paid to the Receiver General in priority to all such security interests.

• Marginal note:Meaning of “security interest”

  (4.1) For the purposes of subsections (3) and (4), a security interest does not include a prescribed security interest.

• Marginal note:Certificate before distribution

  (5) Every person, other than a trustee in bankruptcy, who is an assignee, liquidator, receiver, receiver-manager, administrator, executor, liquidator of a succession or any other like person, in this section referred to as the “responsible representative” , administering, winding-up, controlling or otherwise dealing with a property, business or estate of another person, before distributing to one or more persons any property over which he or she has control in his or her capacity as the responsible representative, shall obtain a certificate from the Minister certifying that all amounts

  • (a) for which any employer is liable under this Act up to and including the date of distribution, and

  • (b) for the payment of which the responsible representative is or can reasonably be expected to become liable in his capacity as the responsible representative

  have been paid or that security for the payment thereof has been accepted by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Personal liability

  (5.1) Where a responsible representative distributes to one or more persons property over which he has control in his capacity as the responsible representative, without obtaining a certificate under subsection (5) in respect of the amounts referred to in that subsection, the responsible representative is personally liable for the payment of those amounts to the extent of the value of the property distributed and the Minister may assess the responsible representative therefor in the same manner and with the same effect as an assessment made under section 22.

• Marginal note:Trustee in bankruptcy

  (6) Where an employer has become a bankrupt, the trustee in bankruptcy shall be deemed to be the agent of the bankrupt for all purposes of this Act.

• (7) to (13) [Repealed, 1993, c. 24, s. 154]

Marginal note:Books and records

• 24 (1) Every employer paying remuneration to an employee employed by him in pensionable employment shall keep records and books of account at his place of business or residence in Canada, or at such other place as may be designated by the Minister, in such form and containing such information as will enable any contributions payable under this Act or any contributions or other amounts that should have been deducted or paid to be determined, and where any such employer has failed to keep adequate records and books of account, the Minister may require him to keep such records and books of account as he may specify, and the employer shall thereafter keep records and books of account as so required.

• Marginal note:Keeping of records and books of account

  (2) Every employer required by this section to keep records and books of account shall retain those records and books of account and every account and voucher necessary to verify the information contained therein until the expiration of six years from the end of the year in respect of which those records and books of account are kept or until written permission for their prior disposal is given by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Electronic records

  (2.1) Every employer required by this section to keep records who does so electronically shall retain them in an electronically readable format for the retention period referred to in subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (2.2) The Minister may, on such terms and conditions as are acceptable to the Minister, exempt an employer or a class of employers from the requirement in subsection (2.1).

• Marginal note:Retention for ruling or appeal

  (3) If the employer or an employee of the employer is subject to a ruling under section 26.1 or has made an appeal to the Minister under section 27 or 27.1, the employer shall retain every record, book of account, account and voucher necessary for dealing with the ruling or the appeal until the ruling is made or the appeal is disposed of and any further appeal is disposed of or the time for filing a further appeal has expired.

Marginal note:Interpretation

• 25 (1) In this section,

  authorized person

  authorized person means a person authorized by the Minister for the purposes of this section; (personne autorisée)

  documents

  documents includes money, securities and any of the following, whether computerized or not: books, records, letters, telegrams, vouchers, invoices, accounts and statements (financial or otherwise); (documents)

  dwelling-house

  dwelling-house means the whole or any part of a building or structure that is kept or occupied as a permanent or temporary residence and includes

  • (a) a building within the curtilage of a dwelling-house that is connected to it by a doorway or by a covered and enclosed passageway, and

  • (b) a unit that is designed to be mobile and to be used as a permanent or temporary residence and that is being used as such a residence; (maison d’habitation)

  judge

  judge means a judge of a superior court having jurisdiction in the province where the matter arises or a judge of the Federal Court. (juge)

• Marginal note:Inspections

  (2) An authorized person may, at any reasonable time, for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, inspect, audit or examine any document that relates or may relate to the information that is or should be contained in the records or books of account or to the amount of any contribution payable under this Act and, for those purposes, the authorized person may

  • (a) subject to subsection (3), enter any premises or place where any records or books of account are or should be kept; and

  • (b) require the owner, occupant or person in charge of the premises or place to give to the authorized person all reasonable assistance and to answer all proper questions relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act and, for that purpose, require the owner, occupant or person in charge of the premises or place to attend at such premises or place with the authorized person.

• Marginal note:Warrant required to enter dwelling-house

  (3) Where a premises or place referred to in subsection (2) is a dwelling-house, an authorized person may not enter that dwelling-house without the consent of the occupant except under the authority of a warrant issued under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Warrant or order

  (4) Where, on ex parte application by the Minister, a judge is satisfied by information on oath

  • (a) that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a dwelling-house is a premises or place referred to in subsection (2),

  • (b) that entry into the dwelling-house is necessary for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, and

  • (c) that entry into the dwelling-house has been refused or that there are reasonable grounds for believing that entry thereto will be refused,

  the judge shall issue a warrant authorizing an authorized person to enter that dwelling-house subject to such conditions as may be specified in the warrant but, where the judge is not satisfied that entry into that dwelling-house is necessary for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, the judge shall

  • (d) order the occupant of the dwelling-house to provide an authorized person with reasonable access to any document that is or should be kept therein, and

  • (e) make such other order as is appropriate in the circumstances to carry out the purposes of this Act

  to the extent that access has been or may be expected to be refused and that the document is or may be expected to be kept in the dwelling-house.

• Marginal note:Requirement to provide documents or information

  (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Minister may, subject to subsection (6), for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Act, by notice served personally or by registered or certified mail, require that any person provide, within such reasonable time as is stipulated in the notice,

  • (a) any information or additional information, including a return of income or a supplementary return; or

  • (b) any document.

• Marginal note:Unnamed persons

  (6) The Minister shall not impose on any person, in this section referred to as a “third party”, a requirement under subsection (5) to provide information or any document relating to one or more unnamed persons unless the Minister first obtains the authorization of a judge under subsection (7).

• Marginal note:Judicial authorization

  (7) On ex parte application by the Minister, a judge may, subject to such conditions as the judge considers appropriate, authorize the Minister to impose on a third party a requirement under subsection (5) relating to an unnamed person or more than one unnamed person, in this section referred to as the “group”, where the judge is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the person or group is ascertainable; and

  • (b) the requirement is made to verify compliance by the person or persons in the group with any duty or obligation under this Act.

  • (c) and (d) [Repealed, 1998, c. 19, s. 254]

• Marginal note:Service of authorization

  (8) Where an authorization is granted under subsection (7), the authorization shall be served together with the notice referred to in subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Review of authorization

  (9) Where an authorization is granted under subsection (7), a third party on whom a notice is served under subsection (5) may, within 15 days after the service of the notice, apply to the judge who granted the authorization or, where the judge is unable to act, to another judge of the same court for a review of the authorization.

• Marginal note:Powers on review

  (10) On hearing an application under subsection (9), a judge may cancel the authorization previously granted if the judge is not then satisfied that the conditions in paragraphs (7)(a) and (b) have been met and the judge may confirm or vary the authorization if satisfied that those conditions have been met.

• Marginal note:Additional remedy

  (11) Where a person is found guilty of an offence under subsection 41(2) for failing to comply with a requirement under subsection (5), the court may make such order as it deems proper in order to enforce compliance with the requirement.

• Marginal note:Copies as evidence

  (12) Where any document is inspected, audited, examined or provided under this section, the person by whom it is inspected, audited or examined or to whom it is provided or any officer of the Canada Revenue Agency may make, or cause to be made, one or more copies thereof and, in the case of an electronic document, make or cause to be made a print-out of the electronic document, and any document purporting to be certified by the Minister or an authorized person to be a copy of the document, or to be a print-out of an electronic document, made pursuant to this subsection is evidence of the nature and content of the original document and has the same probative force as the original document would have if it were proven in the ordinary way.

• Marginal note:Compliance

  (13) No person shall hinder, molest or interfere with any person doing anything that he is authorized to do by or pursuant to this section or prevent or attempt to prevent any person from doing any such thing and, notwithstanding any other Act or law, every person shall, unless he is unable to do so, do everything he is required to do by or pursuant to this section.

Marginal note:No action against person deducting

• 26 (1) No action lies against any person for deducting any sum of money in compliance or intended compliance with this Act.

• Marginal note:Receipt of Minister sufficient discharge

  (2) The receipt of the Minister for an amount deducted by any person as required by or under this Act is a good and sufficient discharge of the liability of any debtor to his creditor with respect thereto to the extent of the amount referred to in the receipt.

Rulings and Appeals

Marginal note:Request for ruling

• 26.1 (1) The Minister of Social Development, an employer, an employee or a person claiming to be an employer or an employee may request an officer of the Canada Revenue Agency authorized by the Minister of National Revenue to make a ruling on any of the following questions:

  • (a) whether an employment is pensionable;

  • (b) how long an employment lasts, including the dates on which it begins and ends;

  • (c) what is the amount of any earnings from pensionable employment;

  • (d) whether a contribution is payable;

  • (e) what is the amount of a contribution that is payable; and

  • (f) who is the employer of a person in pensionable employment.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (2) The Minister of Social Development may request a ruling at any time, but a request by any other person must be made before June 30 of the year after the year in respect of which the question relates.

• Marginal note:Ruling

  (3) The authorized officer shall make the ruling within a reasonable time after receiving the request.

• Marginal note:Presumption

  (4) Unless a ruling has been requested with respect to a person in pensionable employment,

  • (a) an amount deducted from the remuneration of the person or paid by an employer as a contribution for the person is deemed to have been deducted or paid in accordance with this Act; or

  • (b) an amount that has not been so deducted or paid is deemed not to have been required to be deducted or paid in accordance with this Act.

Marginal note:Appeal of rulings

27 An appeal to the Minister from a ruling may be made by the Minister of Social Development at any time, and by any other person concerned within 90 days after the person is notified of the ruling.

Marginal note:Appeal of assessments

27.1 An employer who has been assessed under section 22 may appeal to the Minister for a reconsideration of the assessment, either as to whether an amount should be assessed as payable or as to the amount assessed, within 90 days after being notified of the assessment.

Marginal note:Notification of appeal

• 27.2 (1) Where an appeal is made to the Minister under section 27 or 27.1, the Minister shall

  • (a) notify any person who may be affected by the appeal that the Minister intends to decide the appeal, including the Minister of Social Development in the case of an appeal of a ruling; and

  • (b) give the person an opportunity to provide information and to make representations to protect the person’s interests, as the circumstances require.

• Marginal note:Where appeal to be sent

  (2) An appeal shall be addressed to the Assistant Director of Appeals in a Tax Services Office of the Canada Revenue Agency and delivered or mailed to that office.

• Marginal note:Decision

  (3) The Minister shall decide the appeal within a reasonable time after receiving it and shall notify the affected persons of the decision in any manner that the Minister considers adequate.

Marginal note:Minister’s authority not restricted

27.3 Nothing in sections 26.1 to 27.2 restricts the authority of the Minister to make a decision under this Part on the Minister’s own initiative or to make an assessment after the date mentioned in subsection 26.1(2).

Marginal note:Appeal to Tax Court of Canada

• 28 (1) A person affected by a decision on an appeal to the Minister under section 27 or 27.1, or the person’s representative, may, within 90 days after the decision is communicated to the person, or within any longer time that the Tax Court of Canada on application made to it within 90 days after the expiration of those 90 days allows, appeal from the decision to that Court in accordance with the Tax Court of Canada Act and the applicable rules of court made thereunder.

• Marginal note:Communication of decision

  (1.1) The determination of the time at which a decision on an appeal to the Minister under section 27 or 27.1 is communicated to a person shall be made in accordance with the rule, if any, made under paragraph 20(1.1)(h.1) of the Tax Court of Canada Act.

• Marginal note:Extension of time to appeal

  (1.2) Section 167, except paragraph 167(5)(a), of the Income Tax Act applies, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of applications made under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Decision of Court

  (2) On an appeal under this section, the Tax Court of Canada may vacate, confirm or vary a decision on an appeal under section 27 or an assessment that is the subject of an appeal under section 27.1 or, in the case of an appeal under section 27.1, may refer the matter back to the Minister for reconsideration and reassessment, and shall without delay

  • (a) notify the parties to the appeal in writing of its decision; and

  • (b) give reasons for its decision, but, except where the Court deems it advisable in a particular case to give reasons in writing, the reasons given by it need not be in writing.

Marginal note:Authority to decide questions

• 29 (1) The authority of the Minister or the Tax Court of Canada to decide an appeal under section 27, 27.1 or 28 includes the authority to decide any question of fact or law necessary to be decided in the course of the appeal and to decide whether a person is or may be affected by the decision of the appeal.

• Marginal note:Decisions and rulings final

  (2) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the decision of the Minister or the Tax Court of Canada of an appeal under section 27, 27.1 or 28 and a ruling of an authorized officer under section 26.1 is final and binding for all purposes of this Act.

• Marginal note:Allowance for attending appeal

  (3) If, on an appeal to the Tax Court of Canada from a decision of the Minister, a person affected by the decision is requested by the Court to attend before it on the consideration of the appeal and so attends, the person shall be paid such travel and other allowances, including compensation for loss of remunerative time, as are approved by the Treasury Board.

DIVISION DCollection of Contributions in Respect of Self-Employed Earnings

Marginal note:Return to be filed

• 30 (1) Where a person is required to make a contribution for a year in respect of self-employed earnings, a return of the person’s self-employed earnings for the year shall, without notice or demand for it, be filed with the Minister in the prescribed form and manner and containing the prescribed information, by that person (or, if the person is unable for any reason to file the return, by their representative) on or before the day on or before which the person’s return of income under Part I of the Income Tax Act is required by that Part to be filed or would be required by that Part to be filed if tax under that Part were payable for the year.

• Marginal note:Demand for return

  (2) Whether or not he is liable to make a contribution for a year in respect of his self-employed earnings and whether or not a return has been filed under subsection (1), every person shall, on demand from the Minister, served personally or by registered letter, file with the Minister in prescribed form and containing prescribed information, within such reasonable time as may be stipulated in the demand, a return of his self-employed earnings for the year designated therein.

• Marginal note:Return by trustee, etc.

  (3) Every trustee in bankruptcy, assignee, liquidator, curator, receiver, trustee or committee and every agent or other person administering, managing, winding-up, controlling or otherwise dealing with the property, business, estate or income of a person who has not filed a return of his self-employed earnings for a year as required by this section shall file with the Minister a return in prescribed form of that person’s self-employed earnings for the year.

• Marginal note:Identification of province of residence

  (4) The prescribed information to be contained in any return of the self-employed earnings of a person for a year required by this section to be filed with the Minister shall identify the province in which that person was resident on the last day of that year.

• Marginal note:Where no return filed within four years

  (5) The amount of any contribution required by this Act to be made by a person for a year in respect of their self-employed earnings for the year is deemed to be zero where

  • (a) the return of those earnings required by this section to be filed with the Minister is not filed with the Minister before the day that is four years after the day on or before which the return is required by subsection (1) to be filed; and

  • (b) the Minister does not assess the contribution before the end of those four years.

Marginal note:Estimate to be made

31 Every person required by section 30 to file a return of his self-employed earnings shall in the return estimate the amount of the contribution to be made by him in respect thereof.

Marginal note:Examination of return and notice of assessment

32 The Minister shall, with all due dispatch, examine each return of self-employed earnings and assess the contribution for the year in respect thereof and the interest and penalties, if any, payable, and, after the examination, shall send a notice of assessment to the person by whom the return was filed.

Marginal note:Payment of contribution

• 33 (1) Where

  • (a) the amount of the contribution required to be made by a person for a year in respect of his self-employed earnings is forty dollars or less, or

  • (b) a person who is required by this Act to make a contribution for a year in respect of his self-employed earnings is not required by section 155 or 156 of the Income Tax Act to pay instalments for that year in respect of his income tax,

  the person shall, on or before the person’s balance-due day for the year, pay to the Receiver General the whole amount of the contribution.

• Marginal note:Farmers and fishermen

  (2) Every person to whom section 155 of the Income Tax Act applies, other than a person to whom subsection (1) applies, shall pay to the Receiver General on or before December 31 in each year, two thirds of

  • (a) the contribution required to be made by the person for the year in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings, as estimated by the person, or

  • (b) the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the preceding year,

  and, on or before the person’s balance-due day for the year, the remainder of the contribution as estimated under section 31, except that paragraphs (a) and (b) shall not require the payment of any amount in respect of the person that would otherwise become due after the death of the person.

• Marginal note:Other persons

  (3) Every person, other than a person to whom subsection (1) or (2) applies, shall pay to the Receiver General in respect of each year

  • (a) on or before March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 in the year, an amount equal to one quarter of

    • (i) the contribution required to be made by the person for the year in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings, as estimated by the person, or

    • (ii) the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the preceding year, or

  • (b) on or before

    • (i) March 15 and June 15 in the year, an amount equal to one quarter of the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the second preceding year, and

    • (ii) September 15 and December 15 in the year, an amount equal to one half of the amount, if any, by which

      • (A) the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the preceding year

      exceeds

      • (B) one half of the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the second preceding year,

  and, on or before the person’s balance-due day for the year, the remainder of the contribution as estimated under section 31, except that paragraphs (a) and (b) shall not require the payment of any amount in respect of the person that would otherwise become due after the death of the person.

Marginal note:Interest on unpaid contributions

• 34 (1) Where the amount paid by a person on or before the person’s balance-due day for a year on account of contributions required to be made by the person for the year in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings is less than the amount of the contribution so required to be made, interest at a prescribed rate per annum is payable by the person on the difference between those amounts from the balance-due day for the year to the day of payment.

• Marginal note:Interest on instalments

  (2) In addition to any interest payable under subsection (1), where a person, being required by section 33 to pay a part or instalment of a contribution, has failed to pay all or any part thereof as required, he shall, on payment of the amount he failed so to pay, pay interest thereon at a prescribed rate per annum from the day on or before which he was required to make the payment to the day of payment or the beginning of the period in respect of which he is liable to pay interest thereon under subsection (1), whichever is the earlier.

• Marginal note:Limitation for farmers and fishermen

  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), where a person is required by subsection 33(2) to pay a part or instalment of a contribution in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings, the person shall be deemed to have been liable to pay on or before the day referred to in subsection 33(2) a part or instalment computed by reference to

  • (a) the contribution required to be made by the person for the year in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings, minus forty dollars,

  • (b) the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the preceding year, or

  • (c) the amount stated to be the amount of the instalment payable by the person for the year in the notice, if any, sent to the person by the Minister,

  whichever method gives rise to the least amount required to be paid by the person on or before that day.

• Marginal note:Limitation for other persons

  (4) For the purposes of subsection (2), where a person is required by subsection 33(3) to pay a part or instalment of a contribution in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings, the person shall be deemed to have been liable to pay on or before each day referred to in subsection 33(3) a part or instalment computed by reference to

  • (a) the contribution required to be made by the person for the year in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings, minus forty dollars,

  • (b) the contribution required in respect of the person’s self-employed earnings for the preceding year,

  • (c) the amounts determined under paragraph 33(3)(b) in respect of the person for the year, or

  • (d) the amounts stated to be the amounts of instalment payable by the person for the year in the notices, if any, sent to the person by the Minister,

  whichever method gives rise to the least total amount of those parts or instalments required to be paid by the person by that day.

Marginal note:Failure to file a return

• 35 (1) Every person who fails to file a return of that person’s self-employed earnings for a year as and when required by section 30 is liable to a penalty of five per cent of such part of the amount of the contribution required to be made by that person for the year in respect thereof as remained unpaid at the expiration of the time the return was required to be filed, except that, where that person is liable to a penalty under subsection 162(1) or (2) of the Income Tax Act in respect of the year, the Minister may reduce the penalty to which that person is liable under this section or may remit the penalty in whole or in part.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every person who fails to file a return as required by subsection 30(3) is liable to a penalty of five dollars for each day of default, but not exceeding in all fifty dollars.

Marginal note:Application of Income Tax Act provisions

36 Subject to this Part and except as otherwise provided by regulation, the provisions of Divisions I and J of Part I of the Income Tax Act with respect to payment of tax, assessments, objections to assessments, appeals, interest, penalties and excess refunds, and the provisions of Part XV (except section 221) and subsections 248(7) and (11) of that Act apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in relation to any amount paid or payable as or on account of the contribution for a year in respect of self-employed earnings as though that amount were an amount paid or payable as or on account of tax under that Act.

Marginal note:Priority in which payment to be applied

37 Where any payment is made by a person to the Minister on account of taxes specified in section 228 of the Income Tax Act and of a contribution under this Act in respect of self-employed earnings, notwithstanding any direction made by the person making the payment with respect to its application, the part of the payment that would be applied under that section in payment of tax under the Income Tax Act shall be applied in payment of the contribution under this Act and shall be deemed to be a payment on account thereof, and to the extent of the amount so applied shall not discharge liability for tax under the Income Tax Act, and any amount then remaining shall be applied in payment of tax under the Income Tax Act and shall discharge the liability of the person making the payment for that tax to the extent of that amount.

DIVISION EGeneral

Refunds of Overpayments

Marginal note:Refund of overpayment where application made within four years

• 38 (1) Where an overpayment has been made by an employee on account of the employee’s contribution under this Act for a year, the Minister shall, if application in writing is made to the Minister by the employee not later than four years after the end of the year, refund to the employee the amount of the overpayment.

• Marginal note:Refund after decision on appeal

  (2) Where an amount on account of a contribution is deducted from the remuneration of an employee or is paid by an employer with respect to an employee, and it is decided by a decision on an appeal made under section 27, 27.1 or 28 that the amount exceeds the amount required by this Act to be deducted or paid, the Minister shall refund the excess if the employee or employer applies for it in writing to the Minister not later than 30 days after the decision is communicated to the employee or employer, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Refund of amount deducted in excess of required amount — employee

  (3) Despite anything in this Part, if an employee applies to the Minister and satisfies the Minister that, for any year, the amount deducted from the employee’s remuneration exceeds the contribution for the year required of the employee under subsection 8(1), the Minister may refund the amount of the excess. The application must be made within four years after the end of the year.

• Marginal note:Refund of amount remitted in excess of required amount — employer

  (3.1) Subject to subsection (3.2) but despite any other provision of this Part, if an employer applies to the Minister and satisfies the Minister that, for any year, the amount remitted by the employer as employer’s contributions with respect to an employee exceeds the contribution for the year required of the employer under section 9 with respect to the employee, the Minister may refund the amount of the excess. The application must be made within four years after the end of the year.

• Marginal note:No refund of employers’ contributions

  (3.2) No refund may be made of any contribution required to be made as an employer’s contribution under section 9.

• Marginal note:Refund of excess contribution in respect of self-employed earnings

  (4) Where a person has paid, on account of the contribution required to be made by him for a year in respect of his self-employed earnings, an amount in excess of the contribution, the Minister

  • (a) may refund that part of the amount so paid in excess of the contribution on mailing the notice of assessment of the contribution, without any application therefor; and

  • (b) shall make such a refund after mailing the notice of assessment, if application therefor is made in writing by the contributor not later than four years after the end of the year.

• Marginal note:Refund after correction of record of earnings

  (4.1) Where an amount on account of a contribution is paid by a person in respect of self-employed earnings or is deducted from the remuneration of an employee and the Minister determines, taking into consideration an amendment made under section 97 to the Record of Earnings, that the amount paid or deducted is in excess of the amount required by this Act to be paid or deducted, the Minister may refund the excess.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amount refunded or credited on liability

  (5) Where an application under this section has been made to the Minister for a refund of any amount deducted on account of an employee’s contribution for a year and, whether on the basis of incorrect or incomplete information contained in the application or otherwise, the Minister has refunded an amount to the employee, or applied an amount to a liability of the employee to Her Majesty in right of Canada, in excess of the amount that should have been refunded or applied, the amount of the excess may be recovered at any time from the employee as a debt due to Her Majesty.

• Marginal note:Application of refund to other debts

  (6) Instead of making a refund that might otherwise be made under this section, the Minister may, where the person to whom the refund is payable is liable or about to become liable to make any payment to Her Majesty in right of Canada, apply the amount of the refund to that liability and notify the person of that action.

• Marginal note:Interest on overpayments

  (7) If an amount in respect of an overpayment is refunded or applied under this Act to any other liability, interest shall be paid or applied on the amount at a prescribed rate per annum under the circumstances and for the period or periods determined as prescribed, except that

  • (a) no interest shall be paid or applied if the amount of the interest is less than one dollar; and

  • (b) no interest shall be paid or applied on an amount that is refundable under subsection (4.1).

Marginal note:Refund of overpayment in accordance with agreement

• 39 (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, where an overpayment has been made by an employee on account of the employee’s contribution for a year under this Act, the Minister may, in accordance with any agreement that may be entered into by him with the approval of the Governor in Council with the appropriate authority of a province having the administration of the provincial pension plan referred to in subsection 8(2), if application in writing is made to the Minister by the employee not later than four years after the end of the year, refund to the employee the whole amount of the excess referred to in that subsection, in which case the whole of that amount shall be deemed to be an overpayment made by the employee on account of his contribution for that year under this Act.

• Marginal note:Saving

  (2) Where in accordance with any agreement entered into under subsection (1) the appropriate authority of a province has refunded to an employee the whole amount of the excess referred to in subsection 8(2) with respect to that employee, the whole of that amount shall be deemed to be an overpayment made by the employee on account of his contribution for that year under the provincial pension plan referred to in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Provision for making of financial adjustments

  (3) Any agreement entered into under subsection (1) may provide therein for the making of any financial adjustments required to be made by reason of any payments made to employees in accordance with that agreement and for the crediting or charging of the amount of those adjustments to the Canada Pension Plan Account.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

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

  • (a) prescribing or providing anything that, by this Part, is to be prescribed or is to be provided by regulations;

  • (b) requiring any class of persons to file information returns respecting any class of information required in connection with contributions under this Act, including information respecting contributions of employees of any such persons identified by the province in which the employees were employed;

  • (c) requiring a person who is, by a regulation made under paragraph (b), required to file an information return to supply a copy of the return or a prescribed portion thereof to the person or persons in respect of whose contributions the return or portion thereof relates;

  • (d) prescribing a penalty not exceeding ten dollars a day for each day of default and not exceeding in all two hundred and fifty dollars to which a person who fails to comply with a regulation made under paragraph (b) or (c) shall be liable;

  • (e) defining the expressions agriculture, agricultural enterprise, employment of a casual nature, forestry, horticulture, fishing, hunting, international organization, logging, lumbering, trapping or working days for the purposes of this Act;

  • (f) respecting the manner in which any provision of this Act that applies or extends to an employer of an employee shall apply or extend to any person by whom the remuneration of an employee for services performed in pensionable employment is paid either wholly or in part, and to the employer of any such employee;

  • (f.1) providing for the right of a person to whom a provision of this Act applies or extends by virtue of a regulation made under paragraph (f) to recover from the employer any amounts that the person becomes liable to pay by virtue of that regulation;

  • (g) specifying the circumstances in which and the conditions on which a person shall be deemed to be or have been, or not to be or have been, a member of the Canadian Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the purposes of paragraph 6(2)(g);

  • (h) authorizing the Minister on behalf of the Government of Canada to enter into any agreement for giving effect to the provisions of paragraph 6(2)(h) or paragraph 7(1)(e) or (f);

  • (i) regulating the procedure to be followed in the determination by the Minister of questions under this Part;

  • (j) respecting the terms and conditions governing the making of refunds in accordance with any agreement under subsection 39(1) that may be entered into by the Minister on behalf of the Government of Canada; and

  • (k) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part.

• (2) [Repealed, 1998, c. 19, s. 256]

• Marginal note:Effective date of regulations

  (3) A regulation made under paragraph (1)(a) prescribing rules referred to in subsection 21(1) shall have effect from the day it is published in the Canada Gazette or from such earlier or later day as may be specified in the regulation.

• Marginal note:Effective date of certain agreements

  (4) Any agreement for giving effect to the provisions of paragraph 6(2)(h) or 7(1)(f) that is entered into by the Minister pursuant to regulations made under paragraph (1)(h) has effect with reference to a period before it was entered into if the agreement provides for that effect.

Offences

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

• 41 (1) Every employer who fails to comply with subsection 21(1) or 23(3) is guilty of an offence and, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, is liable on summary conviction to

  • (a) a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars; or

  • (b) both the fine described in paragraph (a) and imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every person who fails to comply with or contravenes section 24 or 25 is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Every person who fails to comply with or contravenes section 30 or a regulation made under paragraph 40(1)(b) or (c) is guilty of an offence and, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars a day for each day of default, but not exceeding in all one thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (4) Every person who

  • (a) makes, or participates in, assents to or acquiesces in the making of, false or deceptive statements in a return, certificate, statement or answer filed or made as required by or under this Part or a regulation,

  • (b) to evade payment of a contribution imposed by this Act, destroys, alters, mutilates, secretes or otherwise disposes of the records or books of account of an employer,

  • (c) makes, or assents to or acquiesces in the making of, false or deceptive entries, or omits, or assents to or acquiesces in the omission, to enter a material particular, in records or books of account of an employer,

  • (d) wilfully, in any manner, evades or attempts to evade, compliance with this Act or payment of contributions imposed by this Act, or

  • (e) conspires with any person to commit an offence described in any of paragraphs (a) to (d),

  is guilty of an offence and, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, is liable on summary conviction to

  • (f) a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than five thousand dollars plus, in an appropriate case, an amount not exceeding double the amount of the contribution that should have been shown to be payable or that was sought to be evaded, or

  • (g) both the fine described in paragraph (f) and imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

• Marginal note:Saving provision

  (5) Where a person has been convicted under this section of failing to comply with subsection 21(1) or a regulation made under paragraph 40(1)(b) or (c), he is not liable to pay any penalty imposed under section 21 or under any regulation made under section 40 for the same failure unless he was assessed for that penalty or that penalty was demanded from him before the information or complaint giving rise to the conviction was laid or made.

• Marginal note:Information or complaint

  (6) An information or complaint under this section may be laid or made by any officer of the Canada Revenue Agency, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or any person thereunto authorized by the Minister and, where an information or complaint purports to have been laid or made under this section, it shall be deemed to have been laid or made by a person thereunto authorized by the Minister and shall not be called in question for lack of authority of the informant or complainant except by the Minister or a person acting for him or Her Majesty.

PART IIPensions and Supplementary Benefits

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 42 (1) In this Part,

  basic number of contributory months

  nombre de base des mois cotisables

  basic number of contributory months, in the case of any contributor, means one hundred and twenty minus the number of months that were excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability; (nombre de base des mois cotisables)

  child

  enfant

  child of a contributor means a child of the contributor, whether born before or after the contributor’s death, and includes

  • (a) an individual adopted legally or in fact by the contributor while the individual was under twenty-one years of age, and

  • (b) an individual of whom, either legally or in fact, the contributor had, or immediately before the individual reached twenty-one years of age did have, the custody and control,

  but does not include a child of the contributor who is adopted legally or in fact by someone other than the contributor or the contributor’s spouse or common-law partner prior to the death or disability of the contributor, unless the contributor was maintaining the child, as defined by regulation; (enfant)

  dependent child

  enfant à charge

  dependent child of a contributor means a child of the contributor who

  • (a) is less than eighteen years of age,

  • (b) is eighteen or more years of age but less than twenty-five years of age and is in full-time attendance at a school or university as defined by regulation, or

  • (c) is a child other than a child described in paragraph (b), is eighteen or more years of age and is disabled, having been disabled without interruption since the time he reached eighteen years of age or the contributor died, whichever occurred later; (enfant à charge)

  disabled contributor’s child

  enfant d’un cotisant invalide

  disabled contributor’s child or any form of that expression of like import means a dependent child of a contributor who is disabled, but does not include a dependent child described in paragraph (c) of the definition “dependent child” in this section; (enfant d’un cotisant invalide)

  family allowance recipient

  bénéficiaire d’une allocation familiale

  family allowance recipient means a person who received or is in receipt of an allowance or a family allowance pursuant to the Family Allowances Act, chapter F-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, as it read immediately before being repealed or the Family Allowances Act for that period prior to a child reaching seven years of age, and such other persons as may be prescribed by regulation; (bénéficiaire d’une allocation familiale)

  Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average

  maximum moyen des gains ouvrant droit à pension

  Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average, in respect of a contributor for a year, means the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for that year and

  • (a) where the year is before 1998 or the date of birth of the contributor is before January 1, 1933, the two previous years, or

  • (b) in any other case,

    • (i) where the year is 1998, the three previous years, and

    • (ii) where the year is after 1998, the four previous years; (maximum moyen des gains ouvrant droit à pension)

  Minister

  ministre

  Minister means the Minister of Social Development; (ministre)

  orphan

  orphelin

  orphan of a contributor means a dependent child of a contributor who has died but does not include a dependent child described in paragraph (c) of the definition “dependent child”; (orphelin)

  surviving spouse with dependent children

  surviving spouse with dependent children[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 44]

  survivor

  survivant

  survivor, in relation to a deceased contributor, means

  • (a) if there is no person described in paragraph (b), a person who was married to the contributor at the time of the contributor’s death, or

  • (b) a person who was the common-law partner of the contributor at the time of the contributor’s death; (survivant)

  survivor with dependent children

  survivant avec enfant à charge

  survivor with dependent children means a survivor of a contributor who wholly or substantially maintains one or more dependent children of the contributor; (survivant avec enfant à charge)

  wholly or substantially

  entièrement ou dans une large mesure

  wholly or substantially has such meaning as may be prescribed. (entièrement ou dans une large mesure)

• Marginal note:When person deemed disabled

  (2) For the purposes of this Act,

  • (a) a person shall be considered to be disabled only if he is determined in prescribed manner to have a severe and prolonged mental or physical disability, and for the purposes of this paragraph,

    • (i) a disability is severe only if by reason thereof the person in respect of whom the determination is made is incapable regularly of pursuing any substantially gainful occupation, and

    • (ii) a disability is prolonged only if it is determined in prescribed manner that the disability is likely to be long continued and of indefinite duration or is likely to result in death; and

  • (b) a person shall be deemed to have become or to have ceased to be disabled at such time as is determined in the prescribed manner to be the time when the person became or ceased to be, as the case may be, disabled, but in no case shall a person be deemed to have become disabled earlier than fifteen months before the time of the making of any application in respect of which the determination is made.

Pension Index

Marginal note:Pension Index for subsequent years

• 43 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Pension Index for each year shall be calculated, in prescribed manner, as the average for the twelve month period ending October 31 in the preceding year of the Consumer Price Index for each month in that twelve month period.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) For any year for which the calculation required by subsection (1) yields a Pension Index that is less than the Pension Index for the preceding year, the Pension Index shall be taken to be the Pension Index for the preceding year.

• Marginal note:Where basis of Consumer Price Index is changed

  (3) Where at any time the Consumer Price Index is adjusted to reflect a new time basis or a new content basis with a resulting percentage adjustment being made in the figures for that Index, a corresponding percentage adjustment shall, at the time of the next calculation of the Pension Index, be made in all values then existing of the Pension Index.

DIVISION ABenefits Payable

Marginal note:Benefits payable

• 44 (1) Subject to this Part,

  • (a) a retirement pension shall be paid to a contributor who has reached sixty years of age;

  • (b) a disability pension shall be paid to a contributor who has not reached sixty-five years of age, to whom no retirement pension is payable, who is disabled and who

    • (i) has made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period,

    • (ii) is a contributor to whom a disability pension would have been payable at the time the contributor is deemed to have become disabled if an application for a disability pension had been received before the contributor’s application for a disability pension was actually received, or

    • (iii) is a contributor to whom a disability pension would have been payable at the time the contributor is deemed to have become disabled if a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings that was made under section 55 or 55.1 had not been made;

    • (iv) [Repealed, 1997, c. 40, s. 69]

  • (c) a death benefit shall be paid to the estate of a deceased contributor who has made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period;

  • (d) subject to subsection (1.1), a survivor’s pension shall be paid to the survivor of a deceased contributor who has made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period, if the survivor

    • (i) has reached sixty-five years of age, or

    • (ii) in the case of a survivor who has not reached sixty-five years of age,

      • (A) had at the time of the death of the contributor reached thirty-five years of age,

      • (B) was at the time of the death of the contributor a survivor with dependent children, or

      • (C) is disabled;

  • (e) a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit shall be paid to each child of a disabled contributor who

    • (i) has made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period,

    • (ii) is a contributor to whom a disability pension would have been payable at the time the contributor is deemed to have become disabled if an application for a disability pension had been received before the contributor’s application for a disability pension was actually received, or

    • (iii) is a contributor to whom a disability pension would have been payable at the time the contributor is deemed to have become disabled if a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings that was made under section 55 or 55.1, had not been made; and

    • (iv) [Repealed, 1997, c. 40, s. 69]

  • (f) an orphan’s benefit shall be paid to each orphan of a deceased contributor who has made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  Footnote ^*(1.1) In the case of a common-law partner who was not, immediately before the coming into force of this subsection, a person described in subparagraph (a)(ii) of the definition spouse in subsection 2(1) as that definition read at that time, no survivor’s pension shall be paid under paragraph (1)(d) unless the common-law partner became a survivor on or after January 1, 1998.

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Subsection 44(1.1) in force July 31, 2000, see SI/2000-76.]

• Marginal note:Calculation of minimum qualifying period in case of disability pension and disabled contributor’s child’s benefit

  (2) For the purposes of paragraphs (1)(b) and (e),

  • (a) a contributor shall be considered to have made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period only if the contributor has made contributions on earnings that are not less than the basic exemption of that contributor, calculated without regard to subsection 20(2),

    • (i) for at least four of the last six calendar years included either wholly or partly in the contributor’s contributory period or, where there are fewer than six calendar years included either wholly or partly in the contributor’s contributory period, for at least four years,

    • (i.1) for at least 25 calendar years included either wholly or partly in the contributor’s contributory period, of which at least three are in the last six calendar years included either wholly or partly in the contributor’s contributory period, or

    • (ii) for each year after the month of cessation of the contributor’s previous disability benefit; and

  • (b) the contributory period of a contributor shall be the period

    • (i) commencing January 1, 1966 or when he reaches eighteen years of age, whichever is the later, and

    • (ii) ending with the month in which he is determined to have become disabled for the purpose of paragraph (1)(b),

    but excluding

    • (iii) any month that was excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability, and

    • (iv) in relation to any benefits payable under this Act for any month after December, 1977, any month for which the contributor was a family allowance recipient in a year for which the contributor’s unadjusted pensionable earnings are less than the basic exemption of the contributor for the year, calculated without regard to subsection 20(2).

• Marginal note:Calculation in case of other supplementary benefits

  (3) For the purposes of paragraphs (1)(c), (d) and (f), a contributor shall be considered to have made contributions for not less than the minimum qualifying period only if he has made contributions

  • (a) for at least one third of the total number of years included either wholly or partly within his contributory period, excluding from the calculation of that contributory period any month in a year after the year in which he reaches sixty-five years of age and for which his unadjusted pensionable earnings were equal to or less than his basic exemption for that year, but in no case for less than three years; or

  • (b) for at least ten years.

DIVISION BCalculation of Benefits

Basic Amount and Annual Adjustment

Marginal note:Basic amount of benefit

• 45 (1) A reference in this Part to the basic amount of any benefit shall be construed as a reference to the amount thereof calculated as provided in this Part without regard to subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Annual adjustments

  (2) Where any benefit has become payable commencing with a month in any year, the basic monthly amount of the benefit shall be adjusted annually, in prescribed manner, so that the amount payable for a month in any following year is an amount equal to the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) the amount that would have been payable for that month if no adjustment had been made under this section with respect to that following year,

  by

  • (b) the ratio that the Pension Index for that following year bears to the Pension Index for the year preceding that following year.

Retirement Pension

Marginal note:Amount of retirement pension

• 46 (1) Subject to this section, a retirement pension payable to a contributor is a basic monthly amount equal to twenty-five per cent of his average monthly pensionable earnings.

• Marginal note:Special case

  (2) Subject to this section, the basic monthly amount of a retirement pension payable to a former disability pension recipient in respect of whom a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings is approved either before or after the commencement of the retirement pension, where the division reduces the retirement pension otherwise payable, shall be calculated by dividing

  • (a) the aggregate of

    • (i) the basic monthly amount of the retirement pension calculated in subsection (1) that would be payable to the contributor had his unadjusted pensionable earnings not been subject to the division, multiplied by the number of months that have been excluded from the contributor’s contributory period by reason of disability, and

    • (ii) the basic monthly amount of the retirement pension calculated in subsection (1) that would be payable following the division, multiplied by the number of months in the contributor’s contributory period calculated in accordance with section 49

  by

  • (b) the aggregate of

    • (i) the number of months that have been excluded from the contributor’s contributory period by reason of disability, and

    • (ii) the number of months in the contributor’s contributory period calculated in accordance with section 49.

• Marginal note:Upward or downward adjustment factor

  (3) Subject to subsections (4) to (6), a retirement pension that becomes payable after December 31, 1986 commencing with a month other than the month in which the contributor reaches sixty-five years of age is a basic monthly amount equal to the basic monthly amount calculated in subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, adjusted by a factor fixed by the Minister, on the advice of the Chief Actuary of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, to reflect the time interval between the month in which the retirement pension commences and the month in which the contributor reached, or would reach, sixty-five years of age, but such time interval shall be deemed never to exceed five years.

• Marginal note:Exception where division of unadjusted pensionable earnings increases retirement pension

  (4) Subject to subsection (5), where, as a result of a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings pursuant to section 55 or 55.1, a retirement pension that was payable increases, the adjustment factor applicable thereafter to the basic monthly amount of the retirement pension calculated in subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, in lieu of the adjustment factor under subsection (3), shall be determined by the formula

  [(F1 × P1) + (F2 × E)]/P2

  where

  • a) “F1” is an amount equal to the adjustment factor under subsection (3) at the time the retirement pension first became payable;

  • (b) “P1” is the basic monthly amount of the retirement pension calculated in subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, before the division;

  • (c) “F2 ”is the lesser of

    • (i) an amount equal to what the adjustment factor under subsection (3) would have been if the retirement pension had commenced in the month in which the increase commences to be payable, and

    • (ii) 1;

  • (d) “E” is equal to the excess of P2 over P1; and

  • (e) “P2” is the basic monthly amount of the retirement pension immediately following the division.

• Marginal note:Exception where survivor’s pension reduced

  (5) Except where otherwise provided by an agreement under section 80, where a person is in receipt of a retirement pension under this Act and a survivor’s pension under this Act and the survivor’s pension is at any time reduced from its full amount pursuant to subsection 58(2), any downward adjustment factor resulting from the application of subsection (3) or (4) at that time shall not be applied to the whole of the basic monthly amount of the retirement pension calculated in subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, but only to the amount remaining when that basic monthly amount is reduced by the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) the amount by which the survivor’s pension has been reduced

  by

  • (b) the ratio that the Pension Index for the year in which the retirement pension first commenced to be payable bears to the Pension Index for the year in which the survivor’s pension is reduced.

• Marginal note:Exception where division after age 65 precedes commencement of retirement pension

  (6) Where, after a person has reached sixty-five years of age but before the person commences to receive a retirement pension, a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings takes place under section 55 or 55.1 in respect of that person, the upward adjustment factor under subsection (3) to be applied to any increase in the retirement pension that is attributable to the division shall be based on the time interval between the taking place of the division and the commencement of the retirement pension, and shall not take into account the time interval between the month in which the person reaches sixty-five years of age and the month in which the division takes place.

Marginal note:Amount of average monthly pensionable earnings

47 Where a retirement pension becomes payable to a contributor commencing with any month before January, 1976, his average monthly pensionable earnings are an amount calculated by dividing his total pensionable earnings by the basic number of contributory months.

Marginal note:Average monthly pensionable earnings in case of pension commencing after December, 1975

• 48 (1) Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4), where a retirement pension becomes payable to a contributor commencing with any month after December, 1975, his average monthly pensionable earnings are an amount calculated by dividing his total pensionable earnings by the total number of months in his contributory period or by the basic number of contributory months, whichever is the greater.

• Marginal note:Deductions in calculating average monthly pensionable earnings of certain months during child raising years

  (2) In calculating the average monthly pensionable earnings of a contributor in accordance with subsection (1) for the purpose of calculating or recalculating benefits payable for a month commencing on or after January 1, 1978, there may be deducted

  • (a) from the total number of months in a contributor’s contributory period, those months during which he was a family allowance recipient and during which his pensionable earnings were less than his average monthly pensionable earnings calculated without regard to subsections (3) and (4), but no such deduction shall reduce the number of months in his contributory period to less than the basic number of contributory months, except

    • (i) for the purpose of calculating a disability benefit in respect of a contributor who is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of this Act after December 31, 1997, in which case the words “the basic number of contributory months” shall be read as “48 months”,

    • (i.1) for the purpose of calculating a disability benefit in respect of a contributor who is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of this Act in 1997, in which case the words “the basic number of contributory months” shall be read as “24 months”, and

    • (ii) for the purpose of calculating a death benefit and a survivor’s pension, in which case the words “the basic number of contributory months” shall be read as “thirty-six months”; and

  • (b) from his total pensionable earnings, the aggregate of his pensionable earnings attributable to the months deducted pursuant to paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Deductions allowed where contributory period ends after age 65

  (3) Where a contributor’s contributory period ends after the month preceding the month in which he reaches sixty-five years of age and the total number of months in his contributory period remaining after the deduction under paragraph (2)(a) exceeds the basic number of contributory months, in calculating his average monthly pensionable earnings in accordance with subsection (1) there shall be deducted

  • (a) from the total number of months remaining in his contributory period, the number of months therein after he reached sixty-five years of age or by which the total exceeds the basic number of contributory months, whichever is the lesser; and

  • (b) from his total pensionable earnings remaining after the deduction under paragraph (2)(b), the aggregate of his pensionable earnings for a number of months equal to the number of months deducted under paragraph (a), for which months that aggregate is less than the aggregate of his pensionable earnings for any other like number of months in his contributory period other than for months for which a deduction has already been made under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Deductions allowed where number of months remaining exceeds 120

  (4) Where the number of months remaining after making any deduction under subsection (2) or (3) from the total number of months in the contributory period of a contributor exceeds one hundred and twenty, in calculating his average monthly pensionable earnings in accordance with subsection (1) there shall be deducted

  • (a) from the number of months so remaining, a number of months equal to

    • (i) fifteen per cent of the number so remaining, and if that fifteen per cent includes a fraction of a month, the fraction shall be taken to be a complete month,

    or

    • (ii) the number of months by which the number so remaining exceeds one hundred and twenty,

    whichever is lesser; and

  • (b) from his total pensionable earnings remaining after making any deduction under subsection (2) or (3), the aggregate of his pensionable earnings for a number of months equal to the number of months deducted under paragraph (a), for which months that aggregate is less than his aggregate pensionable earnings for any like number of months in his contributory period other than for months for which a deduction has already been made under subsection (2) or (3).

Marginal note:Contributory period

49 The contributory period of a contributor is the period commencing January 1, 1966 or when he reaches eighteen years of age, whichever is the later, and ending

• (a) where a benefit other than a disability pension commences before the end of 1986, when he reaches sixty-five years of age, or if he makes a contribution for earnings after he reaches sixty-five years of age, with the month for which he last made such a contribution, and in any case not later than the month in which he dies, or

• (b) where a benefit other than a disability pension commences after the end of 1986, with the earliest of

  • (i) the month preceding the month in which he reaches seventy years of age,

  • (ii) the month in which he dies, or

  • (iii) the month preceding the month in which the retirement pension commences,

but excluding

• (c) any month that was excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability, and

• (d) in relation to any benefits payable under this Act for any month after December, 1977, any month for which he was a family allowance recipient in a year for which his unadjusted pensionable earnings were equal to or less than his basic exemption for the year.

Marginal note:Total pensionable earnings

50 The total pensionable earnings of a contributor are the total for all months in his contributory period of his pensionable earnings for each month calculated as provided in section 51.

Marginal note:Calculation of pensionable earnings for a month

• 51 (1) The pensionable earnings of a contributor for a month (in this subsection referred to as the “particular month”) are the amount determined by the formula

  A × B

  where

  A

  is the earnings for which the contributor is deemed by section 52 to have made a contribution for the particular month; and

  B

  is

  • (a) where the contributor was born after December 31, 1932 and the contributor’s retirement pension did not commence before January 1, 1998 and, after the contributor’s 60th birthday, a month was excluded from the contributor’s contributory period by reason of disability, the product determined by the formula

    (C/D) × (E/F)

    where

    C

    is the contributor’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average for the year in which a benefit first became payable to the contributor under this Act or a provincial pension plan that caused a month after the contributor’s 60th birthday to be excluded from the contributor’s contributory period by reason of disability,

    D

    is the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the year that includes the particular month,

    E

    is the Pension Index for the year in which a benefit becomes payable to the contributor under this Act or a provincial pension plan, and

    F

    is the Pension Index for the year referred to in the description of C, and

  • (b) in any other case, the ratio

    G/D

    where

    G

    is the Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average in respect of the contributor for the year in which a benefit becomes payable to the contributor under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, and

    D

    is as described in paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), where the year referred to in the description of C is 1987 or earlier, the Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average for the year shall be calculated as if the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for a particular year before 1986 were calculated as the greatest multiple of $100 that is equal to or less than an amount calculated by multiplying the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for 1986, which are $25,800, by the ratio

  A/B

  where

  A

  is the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30 of the year preceding that particular year of the average weekly wages and salaries of the Industrial Composite in Canada as published by Statistics Canada for each month in that period, and

  B

  is the average for the twelve month period ending on June 30, 1985 of the average weekly wages and salaries of the Industrial Composite in Canada as published by Statistics Canada for each month in that period.

• Marginal note:Pension Index before 1974

  (3) For the purpose of subsection (1), where the beginning of a period that is excluded from the contributor’s contributory period by reason of disability is in a year before 1974, in calculating the Pension Index for the year in which that period begins, paragraph 43.1(2)(a) of the Canada Pension Plan, R.S.C. 1970, c. C-5, as amended by section 24 of chapter 4 of the Statutes of Canada, 1974-75-76, shall be read without reference to the words “or 1.02 times the Pension Index for the preceding year, whichever is the lesser”.

Marginal note:Amount of earnings for which contribution deemed to have been made for a month

• 52 (1) For the purpose of calculating the pensionable earnings of a contributor for a month in any year for which the contributor has made a contribution, the contribution shall be deemed to have been made for all months in the year, and the earnings for which he shall be deemed to have made a contribution for each month in the year are an amount calculated by dividing his unadjusted pensionable earnings for the year by twelve, except that

  • (a) for a year in which the contributor reaches eighteen years of age or in which a disability pension ceases to be payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, the contribution shall be deemed to have been made for earnings for the months in the year after he reached that age or after the pension ceased to be payable, as the case may be, and

  • (b) for a year in which the contributor reaches seventy years of age or dies, in which a retirement pension becomes payable to him under this Act or under a provincial pension plan or in which any month is excluded from his contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability, the contribution shall be deemed to have been made for earnings for the months in the year before the contributor reached seventy years of age or died, before the retirement pension became payable or that were not so excluded, as the case may be,

  in which case the earnings for which he shall be deemed to have made a contribution for each such month shall be an amount calculated by dividing his unadjusted pensionable earnings for that year by the number of those months.

• Marginal note:Where no contribution made

  (2) For the purpose of calculating the pensionable earnings of a contributor for a month in any year for which the contributor made no contribution, the amount of the earnings for which a contribution shall be deemed to have been made for any month in the year shall be deemed to be zero.

• Marginal note:When contribution deemed to have been made

  (3) For the purposes of this Part,

  • (a) a contributor shall be deemed to have made a contribution for any year for which his unadjusted pensionable earnings exceed his basic exemption for the year, and shall be deemed to have made no contribution for any year for which his unadjusted pensionable earnings do not exceed his basic exemption for the year; and

  • (b) a contributor shall be deemed to have made a contribution for earnings for any month for which a contribution is deemed by subsection (1) to have been made by him.

Marginal note:Unadjusted pensionable earnings for a year

53 Subject to section 54, the unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor for a year are an amount equal to

• (a) the aggregate of

  • (i) his contributory salary and wages for the year, and

  • (ii) his contributory self-employed earnings for the year in the case of an individual described in section 10,

• (b) the aggregate of

  • (i) his earnings on which a contribution has been made for the year under this Act, calculated as the aggregate of

    • (A) his salary and wages on which a contribution has been made for the year, and

    • (B) the amount of any contribution required to be made by the contributor for the year in respect of the contributor’s self-employed earnings divided by the contribution rate for self-employed persons for the year,

  • (ii) his earnings on which a contribution has been made for the year under a provincial pension plan, calculated as the aggregate of

    • (A) such amount as is determined in prescribed manner to be his salary and wages on which a contribution has been made for the year by him under a provincial pension plan, and

    • (B) the amount of any contribution required to be made by the contributor for the year under a provincial pension plan in respect of the contributor’s self-employed earnings divided by the contribution rate for self-employed persons for the year, and

  • (iii) his basic exemption for the year, or

• (c) his maximum pensionable earnings for the year,

whichever is the least, except that where the amount calculated as provided in paragraph (a) is equal to or less than the amount of his basic exemption for the year, his unadjusted pensionable earnings for that year shall be deemed to be zero.

Marginal note:Unadjusted pensionable earnings for years of division

54 The amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor for a year determined under section 53 shall be adjusted for each year in which there is a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1 and under a provincial pension plan.

Division of Unadjusted Pensionable Earnings for Divorces and Annulments before the Coming into Force of section 55.1

Marginal note:Application for division

• 55 (1) Subject to this section, subsections 55.2(2), (3) and (4) and section 55.3, an application for a division of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of former spouses may be made in writing to the Minister by or on behalf of either former spouse, by the estate of either former spouse or by such person as may be prescribed, within thirty-six months or, where both former spouses agree in writing, at any time after the date of a decree absolute of divorce, of a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or of a judgment of nullity of the marriage, granted or rendered on or after January 1, 1978 and before January 1, 1987.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) notwithstanding paragraphs (b) and (c), the former spouses must have cohabited for at least thirty-six consecutive months during the marriage before an application made under subsection (1) may be approved by the Minister;

  • (b) the marriage shall be deemed to have been solemnized or nullified or a divorce deemed to have been made final on the last day of the year preceding the registered date of the marriage or the judgment of nullity or the effective date of a decree absolute of the divorce or of a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act; and

  • (c) the former spouses shall be deemed to have cohabited throughout the year in which the marriage was solemnized, and shall be deemed not to have cohabited at any time during the year of divorce or of annulment of the marriage.

• Marginal note:Period of cohabitation

  (3) In determining the period for which the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the former spouses shall be divided, only those months during which the former spouses cohabited during the marriage shall be considered and, for the purposes of this section, months during which former spouses cohabited shall be determined in the prescribed manner.

• Marginal note:Division of unadjusted pensionable earnings

  (4) On approval by the Minister of an application referred to in subsection (1), the unadjusted pensionable earnings for each former spouse for the period of cohabitation attributable to contributions made under this Act, determined in the same manner as the total pensionable earnings attributable to contributions made under this Act are determined in section 78, shall be added and then divided equally and the unadjusted pensionable earnings so divided shall be attributed to each former spouse.

• Marginal note:On division unadjusted pensionable earnings under this Act

  (5) Where there is a division under subsection (4) and under a provincial pension plan, for the purposes of benefit calculation and payment under this Act, the total unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor for a year of division shall be the aggregate of his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under subsection (4) and his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:No division

  (6) No division of unadjusted pensionable earnings for a period of cohabitation shall be made

  • (a) where the total unadjusted pensionable earnings of the former spouses in a year does not exceed twice the Year’s Basic Exemption;

  • (b) for the period before which one of the former spouses reached eighteen years of age or after which a former spouse reached seventy years of age;

  • (c) for the period in which one of the former spouses was a beneficiary of a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan; and

  • (d) for any month that is excluded from the contributory period of one of the former spouses under this Act or a provincial pension plan by reason of disability.

• Marginal note:Benefits in pay

  (7) Where an application referred to in subsection (1) has been approved and a benefit is payable under this Act to or in respect of either of the former spouses for any month commencing on or before the day of receipt of an application under subsection (1), the basic amount of the benefit shall be calculated and adjusted in accordance with section 45 but subject to the division of unadjusted pensionable earnings made under this section and the adjusted benefit shall be paid effective the month following the month the application referred to in subsection (1) is received.

• Marginal note:Notification of division

  (8) On approval by the Minister of an application for division of unadjusted pensionable earnings, an applicant and the former spouse or the former spouse’s estate shall be notified in a manner prescribed by regulation and, where the applicant or the former spouse or the former spouse’s estate is dissatisfied with the division or the result thereof, the right of appeal as set out in this Part applies.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (9) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing the time, manner and form of making applications for division of unadjusted pensionable earnings or withdrawal of applications for that division, the procedures to be followed in dealing with and approving those applications and the information and evidence to be furnished in connection therewith.

Division of Unadjusted Pensionable Earnings

Marginal note:When mandatory division to take place

• 55.1 (1) Subject to this section and sections 55.2 and 55.3, a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings shall take place in the following circumstances:

  • (a) in the case of spouses, following the issuance of a decree absolute of divorce, a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or a judgment of nullity of the marriage, on the Minister’s being informed of the decree or judgment, as the case may be, and receiving the prescribed information;

  • (b) in the case of spouses, following the approval by the Minister of an application made by or on behalf of either spouse, by the estate or succession of either spouse or by any person that may be prescribed, if

    • (i) the spouses have been living separate and apart for a period of one year or more, and

    • (ii) in the event of the death of one of the spouses after they have been living separate and apart for a period of one year or more, the application is made within three years after the death; and

  • (c) in the case of common-law partners, following the approval by the Minister of an application made by or on behalf of either former common-law partner, by the estate or succession of one of those former common-law partners or by any person that may be prescribed, if

    • (i) the former common-law partners have been living separate and apart for a period of one year or more, or one of the former common-law partners has died during that period, and

    • (ii) the application is made within four years after the day on which the former common-law partners commenced to live separate and apart or, if both former common-law partners agree in writing, at any time after the end of that four-year period.

• Marginal note:Calculation of period of separation

  (2) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) persons subject to a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings shall be deemed to have lived separate and apart for any period during which they lived apart and either of them had the intention to live separate and apart from the other; and

  • (b) a period during which persons subject to such a division have lived separate and apart shall not be considered to have been interrupted or terminated

    • (i) by reason only that either person has become incapable of forming or having an intention to continue to live separate and apart or of continuing to live separate and apart of the person’s own volition, if it appears to the Minister that the separation would probably have continued if the person had not become so incapable, or

    • (ii) by reason only that the two persons have resumed cohabitation during a period of, or periods totalling, not more than ninety days with reconciliation as its primary purpose.

• Marginal note:Period of cohabitation

  (3) For the purposes of this section, persons subject to a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings must have cohabited for a continuous period of at least one year in order for the division to take place, and, for the purposes of this subsection, a continuous period of at least one year shall be determined in a manner prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Period for purposes of division

  (4) In determining the period for which the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the persons subject to a division shall be divided, only those months during which the two persons cohabited shall be considered, and, for the purposes of this subsection, months during which the two persons cohabited shall be determined in the prescribed manner.

• Marginal note:Minister’s discretion

  (5) Before a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings is made under this section, or within the prescribed period after such a division is made, the Minister may refuse to make the division or may cancel the division, as the case may be, if the Minister is satisfied that

  • (a) benefits are payable to or in respect of both persons subject to the division; and

  • (b) the amount of both benefits decreased at the time the division was made or would decrease at the time the division was proposed to be made.

Marginal note:Application of section 55.1

Footnote ^*55.11 Section 55.1 applies

• (a) in respect of decrees absolute of divorce, judgments granting a divorce under the Divorce Act and judgments of nullity of a marriage, issued on or after January 1, 1987;

• (b) in respect of spouses and former spouses who commence to live separate and apart on or after January 1, 1987 but before the coming into force of this section (spouse having in this paragraph the meaning that it had immediately before that coming into force); and

• (c) in respect of spouses and former common-law partners who commence to live separate and apart after the coming into force of this section.

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Section 55.11 in force July 31, 2000, see SI/2000-76.]

• 55.2 (1) [Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 48]

• Marginal note:Agreement or court order not binding on Minister

  (2) Except as provided in subsection (3), where, on or after June 4, 1986, a written agreement between persons subject to a division under section 55 or 55.1 was entered into, or a court order was made, the provisions of that agreement or court order are not binding on the Minister for the purposes of a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1.

• Marginal note:Agreement binding on Minister

  (3) Where

  • (a) a written agreement between persons subject to a division under section 55 or 55.1 entered into on or after June 4, 1986 contains a provision that expressly mentions this Act and indicates the intention of the persons that there be no division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1,

  • (b) that provision of the agreement is expressly permitted under the provincial law that governs such agreements,

  • (c) the agreement was entered into

    • (i) in the case of a division under section 55 or paragraph 55.1(1)(b) or (c), before the day of the application for the division, or

    • (ii) in the case of a division under paragraph 55.1(1)(a), before the issuance of the decree absolute of divorce, the judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or the judgment of nullity of the marriage, as the case may be, and

  • (d) that provision of the agreement has not been invalidated by a court order,

  that provision of the agreement is binding on the Minister and, consequently, the Minister shall not make a division under section 55 or 55.1.

• Marginal note:Minister to notify parties

  (4) The Minister shall, forthwith after being informed of a decree absolute of divorce, a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or a judgment of nullity of a marriage or after receiving an application under section 55 or paragraph 55.1(1)(b) or (c), notify each of the persons subject to the division, in prescribed manner, of the periods of unadjusted pensionable earnings to be divided, and of such other information as the Minister deems necessary.

• Marginal note:Division of unadjusted pensionable earnings

  (5) Where there is a division under section 55.1, the unadjusted pensionable earnings for each person subject to the division for the period of cohabitation attributable to contributions made under this Act, determined in the same manner as the total pensionable earnings attributable to contributions made under this Act are determined in section 78, shall be added and then divided equally, and the unadjusted pensionable earnings so divided shall be attributed to each person.

• Marginal note:Effect of division

  (6) Where there is a division under section 55.1 and under a provincial pension plan, for the purposes of benefit calculation and payment under this Act, the total unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor for a year of division shall be the aggregate of his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under subsection (5) and his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:Provincial pension plans

  (7) No division under section 55.1 shall be made for any month during which the persons subject to the division cohabited and for which either of them contributed to a provincial pension plan (and, for the purposes of this subsection, months during which the persons cohabited shall be determined in the prescribed manner), unless the unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed to the persons under the provincial pension plan are divided for that month in a manner substantially similar to that described in this section and section 55.1.

• Marginal note:No division

  (8) No division under section 55.1 for a period of cohabitation of the persons subject to the division shall be made

  • (a) for a year in which the total unadjusted pensionable earnings of the persons does not exceed twice the Year’s Basic Exemption;

  • (b) for the period before which one of the persons reached eighteen years of age or after which one of the persons reached seventy years of age;

  • (c) for the period in which one of the persons was a beneficiary of a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan; and

  • (d) for any month that is excluded from the contributory period of one of the persons under this Act or a provincial pension plan by reason of disability.

• Marginal note:Payment of benefit

  (9) Where there is a division under section 55.1 and a benefit is or becomes payable under this Act to or in respect of either of the persons subject to the division for a month not later than the month following the month in which the division takes place, the basic amount of the benefit shall be calculated and adjusted in accordance with section 46 and adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) but subject to the division, and the adjusted benefit shall be paid effective the month following the month in which the division takes place but in no case shall a benefit that was not payable in the absence of the division be paid in respect of the month in which the division takes place or any prior month.

• Marginal note:Notification of division

  (10) Where there is a division under section 55.1, both persons subject to the division, or their respective estates, shall be notified in the prescribed manner.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (11) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing

  • (a) the time, manner and form of making applications for a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings or withdrawal of applications for such division;

  • (b) the procedures to be followed in dealing with and approving such applications and the information and evidence to be furnished in connection therewith; and

  • (c) the effective dates of the approval or taking place of a division and of the attribution of pensionable earnings following a division.

Marginal note:Incapacity

• 55.3 (1) Where an application for a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings is made under subsection 55(1) or paragraph 55.1(1)(b) or (c) or the Minister receives the prescribed information referred to in paragraph 55.1(1)(a) and the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of evidence provided by or on behalf of a person subject to the division, that the person had been incapable of forming or expressing an intention to make an application or to provide the information to the Minister on the day on which the application was actually made or the information was actually received, the Minister may deem the application to have been made or the information to have been received in the first month in which a division could have taken place or in the month that the Minister considers the person’s last relevant period of incapacity to have commenced, whichever is the later.

• Marginal note:Incapacity

  (2) Where an application for a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings is made under subsection 55(1) or paragraph 55.1(1)(b) or (c) or the Minister receives the prescribed information referred to in paragraph 55.1(1)(a) and the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of evidence provided by or on behalf of a person subject to the division, that

  • (a) the person had been incapable of forming or expressing an intention to make an application or to provide the information to the Minister before the day on which the application was actually made or the information was actually received by the Minister,

  • (b) the person had ceased to be so incapable before that day, and

  • (c) the application was actually made or the information was actually received by the Minister

    • (i) within the period that begins on the day on which the person had ceased to be so incapable and that comprises the same number of days, not exceeding twelve months, as in the period of incapacity, or

    • (ii) where the period referred to in subparagraph (i) comprises fewer than thirty days, not more than one month after the month in which the person had ceased to be so incapable,

  the Minister may deem the application to have been made or the information to have been received in the first month in which a division could have taken place or in the month in which the Minister considers the person’s last relevant period of incapacity to have commenced, whichever is the later.

• Marginal note:Period of incapacity

  (3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), a period of incapacity must be a continuous period except as otherwise prescribed.

• Marginal note:Application

  (4) This section applies only to individuals who were incapacitated on or after January 1, 1991.

Disability Pension

Marginal note:Amount of disability pension

• 56 (1) A disability pension payable to a contributor is a basic monthly amount consisting of

  • (a) a flat rate benefit, calculated as provided in subsection (2); and

  • (b) seventy-five per cent of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension calculated as provided in this section.

• Marginal note:Calculation of flat rate benefit

  (2) The amount of the flat rate benefit mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) is

  • (a) in the case of a flat rate benefit commencing to be payable for a month in the year 1986, ninety-one dollars and six cents;

  • (b) in the case of a flat rate benefit payable for a month in the year 1987, an amount calculated by multiplying

    • (i) two hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-eight cents

    by

    • (ii) the ratio that the Pension Index for 1987 bears to the Pension Index for 1986; and

  • (c) in the case of a flat rate benefit commencing to be payable for a month in the year 1988 or any subsequent year, an amount calculated by multiplying

    • (i) the amount of the flat rate benefit that would have been payable for a month in the year preceding that year

    by

    • (ii) the ratio that the Pension Index for the year in which the benefit commences to be payable bears to the Pension Index for the year preceding that year.

• Marginal note:Calculation of contributor’s retirement pension

  (3) The amount of the contributor’s retirement pension to be used for the purpose of paragraph (1)(b) is an amount equal to twenty-five per cent of his average monthly pensionable earnings calculated as provided in subsections (4) and (5).

• Marginal note:Average monthly pensionable earnings

  (4) For the purposes of subsection (3), the average monthly pensionable earnings of a contributor who is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of this Act after December 31, 1997 is, subject to subsections 48(2) and (4), the amount obtained by dividing

  • (a) the contributor’s total pensionable earnings

  by

  • (b) the total number of months in the contributor’s contributory period or 48, whichever is greater.

• Marginal note:Average monthly pensionable earnings

  (4.1) For the purposes of subsection (3), the average monthly pensionable earnings of a contributor who is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of this Act in 1997 is, subject to subsections 48(2) and (4), the amount obtained by dividing

  • (a) the contributor’s total pensionable earnings

  by

  • (b) the total number of months in the contributor’s contributory period or 24, whichever is greater.

• Marginal note:Contributory period

  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the contributory period of a contributor is the period

  • (a) commencing January 1, 1966 or when he reaches eighteen years of age, whichever is the later, and

  • (b) ending with the month in which he is determined to have become disabled for the purpose of paragraph 44(1)(b),

  but excluding

  • (c) any month that was excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability, and

  • (d) in relation to any benefits payable under this Act for any month after December, 1977, any month for which he was a family allowance recipient in a year for which his unadjusted pensionable earnings were equal to or less than his basic exemption for the year.

• Marginal note:Where division of unadjusted pensionable earnings occurs

  (6) The amount of the contributor’s retirement pension to be used for the purpose of paragraph (1)(b), in the case of a contributor in respect of whom a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings takes place either before or after the commencement of the disability pension, where the division reduces the disability pension otherwise payable, shall be calculated by dividing

  • (a) the aggregate of

    • (i) the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension calculated in accordance with subsections (3) to (5) before the division, multiplied by the aggregate of

      • (A) the number of months that have been excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or a provincial pension plan by reason of disability, and

      • (B) the number of months remaining until the month in which the contributor reaches sixty-five years of age, and

    • (ii) the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension calculated in accordance with subsections (3) to (5) following the division, multiplied by the number of months in the contributor’s contributory period calculated in accordance with subsection (5)

  by

  • (b) the aggregate of

    • (i) the number of months that have been excluded from the contributor’s contributory period under this Act or under a provincial pension plan by reason of disability,

    • (ii) the number of months remaining until the month in which the contributor reaches sixty-five years of age, and

    • (iii) the number of months in the contributor’s contributory period calculated in accordance with subsection (5).

Death Benefit

Marginal note:Amount of death benefit

• 57 (1) Subject to subsection (1.1), a death benefit payable to the estate of a contributor is a lump sum amount equal to

  • (a) six times the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension, calculated as provided in subsection (2), or

  • (b) ten per cent of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the year in which the contributor died,

  whichever is the lesser.

• Marginal note:Maximum in cases of death after December 31, 1997

  (1.1) Where the contributor’s death occurs after December 31, 1997, the lump sum referred to in subsection (1) shall not exceed $2,500.

• Marginal note:Calculation of contributor’s retirement pension

  (2) The amount of the contributor’s retirement pension to be used for the purposes of subsection (1) is

  • (a) in the case of a contributor who died before January 1, 1987 and to whom a retirement pension was payable for the month in which he died, the amount of such pension for that month, but where that contributor’s contributory period ended before January 1976, the amount is the amount of the retirement pension payable for the month in which he died multiplied by the ratio that the basic number of contributory months bears to the number of months in the contributor’s contributory period;

  • (b) in the case of a contributor who died before January 1, 1987 and to whom no retirement pension was payable for the month in which he died, an amount equal to twenty-five per cent of his average monthly pensionable earnings, calculated as provided in sections 46 to 53 except that, in making that calculation,

    • (i) subsections 46(3) to (6) and section 47 are not applicable,

    • (ii) subsection 48(1) shall be read as follows:

      • “48 (1) Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4), the average monthly pensionable earnings of a contributor are an amount calculated by dividing his total pensionable earnings by the total number of months in his contributory period.”, and

    • (iii) section 51 shall be read as though for the reference therein to the year in which a benefit becomes payable to the contributor there were substituted a reference to the year in which the contributor died; and

  • (c) in the case of a contributor who died on or after January 1, 1987,

    • (i) where a retirement pension was not payable for the month in which the contributor died, an amount equal to twenty-five per cent of his average monthly pensionable earnings, calculated as provided in subsection (3), or

    • (ii) where a retirement pension was payable for the month in which the contributor died, the product obtained by multiplying

      • (A) an amount equal to twenty-five per cent of his average monthly pensionable earnings, calculated as provided in subsection (3),

      by

      • (B) the ratio that the Pension Index for the year that includes that month bears to the Pension Index for the year in which the retirement pension first became payable, calculated, where the year in which the retirement pension first became payable was prior to 1974, as if the Pension Index for that year had not been subject to the limitation referred to in paragraph 43.1(2)(a) of the Canada Pension Plan, chapter C-5 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, of 1.02 times the Pension Index for the preceding year.

• Marginal note:Calculation of average monthly pensionable earnings

  (3) Subject to subsections 48(2), (3) and (4), the average monthly pensionable earnings of a contributor is an amount calculated by dividing his total pensionable earnings by the total number of months in his contributory period or by thirty-six, whichever is greater, and

  • (a) in the case of a contributor to whom a retirement pension was payable for the month in which he died, section 51 applies; or

  • (b) in the case of a contributor to whom no retirement pension was payable for the month in which he died, section 51 applies but the reference therein to the year in which a benefit becomes payable to the contributor shall be read as a reference to the year in which the contributor died.

Survivor’s Pension

Marginal note:Amount of survivor’s pension

• 58 (1) Subject to this section, a survivor’s pension payable to the survivor of a contributor is a basic monthly amount as follows:

  • (a) in the case of a survivor who has not reached sixty-five years of age and to whom no retirement pension is payable under this Act or a provincial pension plan, a basic monthly amount consisting of

    • (i) a flat rate benefit, calculated as provided in subsection (1.1), and

    • (ii) 37 1/2 per cent of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension, calculated as provided in subsection (3),

    reduced, unless the survivor was at the time of the death of the contributor a survivor with dependent children or unless he is disabled, by 1/120 for each month by which the age of the survivor at the time of the death of the contributor is less than forty-five years, and reduced, if at any time after the death of the contributor the survivor ceases to be

    • (iii) a survivor with dependent children and is not at that time disabled, or

    • (iv) disabled and is not at that time a survivor with dependent children,

    by 1/120 for each month by which the age of the survivor at that time is less than forty-five years; and

  • (b) in the case of a survivor who has reached sixty-five years of age and to whom no retirement pension is payable under this Act or a provincial pension plan, a basic monthly amount equal to sixty per cent of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension, calculated as provided in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Amount of flat rate benefit

  (1.1) The amount of the flat rate benefit referred to in subparagraph (1)(a)(i) is

  • (a) in the year 1986, ninety-one dollars and six cents; or

  • (b) in the year 1987 or any subsequent year, an amount calculated by multiplying

    • (i) the amount of the flat rate benefit that would have been payable for a month in the year preceding that year

    by

    • (ii) the ratio that the Pension Index for the year in which the flat rate benefit commences to be payable bears to the Pension Index for the year preceding that year.

• Marginal note:Calculation of survivor’s pension where retirement pension payable

  (2) Where a survivor’s pension under this Act and a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan are payable to the survivor of a contributor, the basic monthly amount of the survivor’s pension payable to the survivor is

  • (a) in the case of a survivor who has not reached sixty-five years of age and whose retirement pension commences to be payable after December 31, 1997, the aggregate of

    • (i) a flat rate benefit, calculated as provided in subsection (1.1), and

    • (ii) the lesser of

      • (A) the amount determined by the formula

        C - D

        where

        C

        is 37.5% of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension calculated as provided in subsection (3), and

        D

        is the lesser of

        • (I) 40% of C, and

        • (II) 40% of the survivor’s retirement pension, calculated without regard to subsections 46(3) to (6) but in accordance with subsection 45(2), and

      • (B) an amount that, when added to the survivor’s retirement pension (calculated without regard to subsections 46(3) to (6) but in accordance with subsection 45(2)), is equal to the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the survivor’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable;

  • (b) in the case of a survivor who has not reached sixty-five years of age and whose retirement pension commences to be payable before January 1, 1998, the aggregate of

    • (i) a flat rate benefit, calculated as provided in subsection (1.1), and

    • (ii) the lesser of

      • (A) 37.5% of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension, calculated as provided in subsection (3), and

      • (B) an amount that, when added to the survivor’s retirement pension (calculated without regard to subsections 46(3) to (6) but in accordance with subsection 45(2)), is equal to the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable, and for each of the two preceding years, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable; or

  • (c) in the case of a survivor who has reached sixty-five years of age and who was born after December 31, 1932 and whose retirement pension commences to be payable after December 31, 1997, the lesser of

    • (i) the amount determined by the formula

      A - B

      where

      A

      is 60% of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension calculated as provided in subsection (3), and

      B

      is the lesser of

      • (I) 40% of A, and

      • (II) 40% of the survivor’s retirement pension, calculated without regard to subsections 46(3) to (6) but in accordance with subsection 45(2), and

    • (ii) an amount that, when added to the survivor’s retirement pension (calculated without regard to subsections 46(3) to (6) but in accordance with subsection 45(2)), is equal to the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the survivor’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable; or

  • (d) in any other case, the lesser of

    • (i) 60% of the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension, calculated as provided in subsection (3), and

    • (ii) an amount that, when added to the survivor’s retirement pension (calculated without regard to subsections 46(3) to (6) but in accordance with subsection 45(2)), is equal to the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable, and for each of the two preceding years, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s retirement pension commenced to be payable.

• Marginal note:Calculation of contributor’s retirement pension

  (3) The amount of the contributor’s retirement pension to be used for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) is an amount calculated as provided in paragraph 57(2)(a), (b) or (c), multiplied, for the purpose of calculating the monthly amount of the survivor’s pension for months commencing with the month in which

  • (a) a survivor’s pension became payable to the survivor by reason of a disability that began after the death of the contributor,

  • (b) the survivor reached sixty-five years of age, not having reached that age at the time of the death of the contributor,

  • (c) the survivor’s pension under this Act or the survivor’s retirement pension under this Act or a provincial pension plan commenced to be payable, whichever is the later,

  • (d) a survivor’s pension became payable to the survivor under this Act in circumstances other than those described in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or

  • (e) the survivor has had an adjustment to the survivor’s retirement pension pursuant to subsection 55(7) or 55.2(9) following a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings,

  by the ratio that the Pension Index for the year that includes that month bears to the Pension Index for the year in which the contributor died.

• Marginal note:Pension Index limitation removed

  (4) For the purpose of calculating the monthly amount of a survivor’s pension under subsection (3) in a case where the survivor’s pension commences with a month in a year after 1973 and is in respect of a contributor who died prior to 1974, the ratio referred to in that subsection shall be calculated as if the Pension Index for the year in which the contributor died had not been subject to the limitation referred to in paragraph 43.1(2)(a) of the Canada Pension Plan, chapter C-5 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, of 1.02 times the Pension Index for the preceding year.

• Marginal note:Calculation of amount of retirement pension to survivor

  (5) For the purposes of subsection (2), the monthly amount of the retirement pension payable to the survivor of a contributor shall be calculated without regard to any provision of the provincial pension plan referred to in that subsection that reduces the pensions of contributors who have reached sixty-five years of age or precludes the payment of pensions to those contributors by reason of their employment earnings.

• Marginal note:Calculation of disability pension where survivor’s pension payable

  (6) Subject to subsection (6.1), where a survivor’s pension under this Act and a disability pension under this Act are payable to the survivor of a contributor and either the date of death of the contributor or the date on which the survivor is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of this Act is after December 31, 1997, the amount of the disability pension is an amount that, when added to the amount of the survivor’s pension for a month in the year in which the survivor’s pension or the disability pension commenced to be payable, whichever is the later, equals the aggregate of

  • (a) the greater of

    • (i) the flat rate benefit payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(i), and

    • (ii) the flat rate benefit payable under paragraph 56(1)(a), and

  • (b) the lesser of

    • (i) the aggregate of

      • (A) the greater of

        • (I) the amount payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(ii), and

        • (II) the amount payable under paragraph 56(1)(b), and

      • (B) 60% of the lesser of the amount described in subclause (A)(I) and the amount described in subclause (A)(II), and

    • (ii) 75% of the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the survivor’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable.

• Marginal note:Saving

  (6.1) Where subsection (6) applies and the aggregate amount of the survivor’s pension and the disability pension are less than the amount of the disability pension that would be payable if the survivor’s pension were not payable, the amount of the disability pension is the amount that results when

  • (a) the amount of the survivor’s pension

  is subtracted from

  • (b) the amount of the disability pension that would be payable if the survivor’s pension were not payable.

• Marginal note:Calculation of disability pension where survivor’s pension payable

  (6.2) Where a survivor’s pension under this Act and a disability pension under this Act are payable to the survivor of a contributor and subsection (6) does not apply, the amount of the disability pension is an amount that, when added to the amount of the survivor’s pension for a month in the year in which the survivor’s pension or the disability pension commenced to be payable, whichever is the later, equals the aggregate of

  • (a) the greater of

    • (i) the flat rate benefit payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(i), and

    • (ii) the flat rate benefit payable under paragraph 56(1)(a), and

  • (b) the lesser of

    • (i) the aggregate of the amounts payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(ii) and paragraph 56(1)(b), and

    • (ii) the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable, and for each of the two preceding years, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable.

• Marginal note:Special case

  (7) Notwithstanding subsection (6), the Minister may, in prescribed circumstances and on the written request of the applicant, if in the Minister’s opinion it would be to the applicant’s advantage, pay the applicant the full amount of the disability pension and calculate the amount of the applicant’s survivor’s pension in a manner similar to that set out in subsection (6) for the calculation of the disability pension, but in no case may the aggregate of the two pensions exceed what it would have been had subsection (6) applied.

• Marginal note:Calculation of survivor’s pension when disability pension payable under provincial pension plan

  (8) Except where otherwise provided by an agreement under section 80, where a survivor’s pension under this Act and a disability pension under a provincial pension plan are payable to the survivor of a contributor and either the date of death of the contributor or the date on which the survivor is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of a provincial pension plan is after December 31, 1997, the amount of the survivor’s pension is an amount that, when added to the amount of the disability pension for a month in the year in which the survivor’s pension or the disability pension commenced to be payable, whichever is the later, equals the aggregate of

  • (a) the greater of

    • (i) the flat rate benefit payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(i), and

    • (ii) the flat rate benefit payable under the provincial pension plan in respect of disability, and

  • (b) the lesser of

    • (i) the aggregate of

      • (A) the greater of

        • (I) the amount payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(ii), and

        • (II) the portion of the contributor’s retirement pension payable to the survivor under the provincial pension plan in respect of disability, and

      • (B) 60% of the lesser of the amount described in subclause (A)(I) and the amount described in subclause (A)(II), and

    • (ii) 75% of the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the survivor’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings Average for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable.

• Marginal note:Calculation of survivor’s pension when disability pension payable under provincial pension plan

  (8.1) Except where otherwise provided by an agreement under section 80, where a survivor’s pension under this Act and a disability pension under a provincial pension plan are payable to the survivor of a contributor and subsection (8) does not apply, the amount of the survivor’s pension is an amount that, when added to the amount of the disability pension for a month in the year in which the survivor’s pension or the disability pension commenced to be payable, whichever is the later, equals the aggregate of

  • (a) the greater of

    • (i) the flat rate benefit payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(i), and

    • (ii) the flat rate benefit payable under the provincial pension plan in respect of disability, and

  • (b) the lesser of

    • (i) the aggregate of

      • (A) the amounts payable under subparagraph (1)(a)(ii), and

      • (B) the portion of the contributor’s retirement pension payable to the survivor under the provincial pension plan in respect of disability, and

    • (ii) the amount of a benefit of 25% of 1/12 of the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable, and for each of the two preceding years, adjusted in accordance with subsection 45(2) as if the benefit had commenced to be payable in the later of the year in which the survivor first became qualified to receive the survivor’s pension and the year in which the survivor’s disability pension commenced to be payable.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (9) For the purposes of this section, a survivor first becomes qualified to receive a survivor’s pension in the month following the month in which the survivor first met the criteria of subsection 44(1) in relation to that pension.

Disabled Contributor’s Child’s Benefit and Orphan’s Benefit

Marginal note:Amount of benefit

59 A disabled contributor’s child’s benefit payable to the child of a disabled contributor and an orphan’s benefit payable to the orphan of a contributor is a basic monthly amount consisting of

• (a) in the year 1991, one hundred and thirteen dollars and fourteen cents;

• (b) in the year 1992, the aggregate of

  • (i) one hundred and thirteen dollars and fourteen cents, multiplied by the ratio referred to in subparagraph (c)(ii), and

  • (ii) thirty-five dollars; or

• (c) in the year 1993 or any subsequent year, an amount calculated by multiplying

  • (i) the amount of the benefit that would have been payable for a month in the year preceding that year

  by

  • (ii) the ratio that the Pension Index for the year in which the benefit commences to be payable bears to the Pension Index for the year preceding that year.

DIVISION CPayment of Benefits: General Provisions

Marginal note:Application for benefit

• 60 (1) No benefit is payable to any person under this Act unless an application therefor has been made by him or on his behalf and payment of the benefit has been approved under this Act.

• Marginal note:Application for benefit by estate, etc.

  (2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, but subject to subsections (2.1) and (2.2), an application for a benefit, other than a death benefit, that would have been payable in respect of a month to a deceased person who, prior to the person’s death, would have been entitled on approval of an application to payment of that benefit under this Act may be approved in respect of that month only if it is made within 12 months after the death of that person by the estate, the representative or heir of that person or by any person that may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Certain applications may not be approved

  (2.1) An application referred to in subsection (2) in respect of a disability benefit may not be approved if the application is received after December 31, 1997.

• Marginal note:Restriction — retirement pension

  (2.2) An application referred to in subsection (2) in respect of a retirement pension may only be approved in respect of a month after the deceased contributor had reached age 70.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Where a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit would, if the application had been approved, have been payable to a child of a disabled contributor on application made prior to the death of the child or an orphan’s benefit would, if the application had been approved, have been payable to an orphan of a contributor on application made prior to the death of the orphan and the child or orphan dies after December 31, 1977, not having reached eighteen years of age, and no application has been made at the time of the death of the child or orphan, an application may be made within one year after the death by the person or agency having custody and control of the child or orphan at the time of the death or, where there is at that time no person or agency having custody and control, by such person or agency as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Benefits payable to estate or other persons

  (4) Where an application is made pursuant to subsection (2) or (3), a benefit that would have been payable to a deceased person referred to in subsection (2) or a deceased child or orphan referred to in subsection (3) shall be paid to the estate or such person as may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Application deemed to have been received on date of death

  (5) Any application made pursuant to subsection (2) or (3) is deemed to have been received

  • (a) on the date of the death of a person who, prior to his death, would have been entitled, on approval of an application, to payment of a benefit under this Act; or

  • (b) on the date of the death of a child or an orphan referred to in subsection (3) where the person having custody and control of the child or orphan did not make an application prior to the death of the child or orphan.

• Marginal note:How application to be made

  (6) An application for a benefit shall be made to the Minister in prescribed manner and at the prescribed location.

• Marginal note:Consideration of application and approval by Minister

  (7) The Minister shall forthwith on receiving an application for a benefit consider it and may approve payment of the benefit and determine the amount thereof payable under this Act or may determine that no benefit is payable, and he shall thereupon in writing notify the applicant of his decision.

• Marginal note:Incapacity

  (8) Where an application for a benefit is made on behalf of a person and the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of evidence provided by or on behalf of that person, that the person had been incapable of forming or expressing an intention to make an application on the person’s own behalf on the day on which the application was actually made, the Minister may deem the application to have been made in the month preceding the first month in which the relevant benefit could have commenced to be paid or in the month that the Minister considers the person’s last relevant period of incapacity to have commenced, whichever is the later.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (9) Where an application for a benefit is made by or on behalf of a person and the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of evidence provided by or on behalf of that person, that

  • (a) the person had been incapable of forming or expressing an intention to make an application before the day on which the application was actually made,

  • (b) the person had ceased to be so incapable before that day, and

  • (c) the application was made

    • (i) within the period that begins on the day on which that person had ceased to be so incapable and that comprises the same number of days, not exceeding twelve months, as in the period of incapacity, or

    • (ii) where the period referred to in subparagraph (i) comprises fewer than thirty days, not more than one month after the month in which that person had ceased to be so incapable,

  the Minister may deem the application to have been made in the month preceding the first month in which the relevant benefit could have commenced to be paid or in the month that the Minister considers the person’s last relevant period of incapacity to have commenced, whichever is the later.

• Marginal note:Period of incapacity

  (10) For the purposes of subsections (8) and (9), a period of incapacity must be a continuous period except as otherwise prescribed.

• Marginal note:Application

  (11) Subsections (8) to (10) apply only to individuals who were incapacitated on or after January 1, 1991.

• Marginal note:Making claim or providing information in person

  (12) The Minister may require an applicant or other person or a group or class of persons to be at a suitable place at a suitable time in order to make an application for benefits in person or to provide additional information about an application.

Marginal note:Approval of interim benefit

• 61 (1) Where application is made for a benefit and payment of the benefit would be approved except that the amount of the benefit cannot be finally calculated at the time the approval would otherwise be given, the Minister may approve payment of an interim benefit in such amount as he may fix and payment of the interim benefit may be made in a like manner as if the benefit had been approved.

• Marginal note:Adjustment to be made when benefit subsequently approved

  (2) Where an interim benefit has been paid under subsection (1) and payment of a benefit is subsequently approved,

  • (a) if the amount of the interim benefit was less than the amount of the benefit subsequently approved, the beneficiary shall be paid the additional amount that he would have been paid if the benefit had been approved at the time the interim benefit was approved; and

  • (b) if the amount of the interim benefit exceeded the amount of the benefit subsequently approved, the amount paid in excess thereof shall be deducted from subsequent payments of the benefit or otherwise recovered in such manner as the Minister may direct.

Marginal note:Where payment approved after month of commencement

• 62 (1) Payment of a benefit for each month shall be made at such time during the month as the Minister directs, except that, where payment of a benefit is approved after the end of the month for which the first payment of the benefit is payable under this Part, monthly payments of the benefit shall be made for months commencing with the month following the month in which payment of the benefit is approved and payments of the benefit for months preceding that month for which the benefit is payable under this Part shall be paid in one sum during that month.

• Marginal note:When benefit deemed to have become payable

  (2) For the purposes of this Act, where a benefit is payable under this Part commencing with any month, the benefit shall be deemed to have become payable at the beginning of that month.

Marginal note:Where spouse remarried before survivor’s pension payable

• 63 (1) Where a person whose spouse has died remarries at a time when no survivor’s pension is payable to him, no survivor’s pension is payable to that person during the period of his remarriage and if following the death of his spouse of that or any subsequent remarriage a survivor’s pension would be payable to him if he applied for such a pension, his deceased spouse for the purposes of this Act shall be deemed to be his spouse named in the application.

• Marginal note:Discontinuance of survivor’s pension

  (2) Where a person to whom a survivor’s pension is being paid remarries, the survivor’s pension shall be discontinued commencing with the month following the month in which that person was married.

• Marginal note:Application for survivor’s pension

  (3) Where the spouse of a person whose survivor’s pension has been discontinued under subsection (2) dies, that person may on application therefor be paid a survivor’s pension equal to the survivor’s pension that was discontinued under subsection (2) or the survivor’s pension that would have been payable by reason of the death of the spouse if no survivor’s pension had been previously payable to that person, whichever is the greater.

• Marginal note:Payment of pension to former spouse

  (4) Where the marriage of a person whose survivor’s pension has been discontinued under subsection (2) is terminated otherwise than by the death of his spouse, the survivor’s pension previously payable to that person shall thereupon become payable to him.

• Marginal note:Calculation of basic amount of survivor’s pension

  (5) Where a survivor’s pension payable to a person has been discontinued under subsection (2) and subsequently a survivor’s pension equal to the pension so discontinued becomes payable to that person or the pension so discontinued again becomes payable to him, the basic monthly amount of the pension thereupon payable to that person shall be calculated as though the pension discontinued under subsection (2) had not been discontinued.

• Marginal note:Only one survivor’s pension payable

  (6) Where, but for this subsection, more than one survivor’s pension would be payable concurrently to a person under this Act, or a survivor’s pension would be payable concurrently to a person under this Act and under a provincial pension plan, only one survivor’s pension shall be payable to that person, the amount of which shall be the greatest or greater of the survivor’s pensions that would, but for this subsection, be payable to that person.

• Marginal note:Death within 1 year of marriage

  (7) Where a contributor dies within one year after his marriage, no survivor’s pension is payable to his survivor if the Minister is not satisfied that the contributor was at the time of his marriage in such a condition of health as to justify him in having an expectation of surviving for at least one year thereafter.

• Marginal note:When subsection (7) does not apply

  (7.1) Subsection (7) does not apply if the aggregate of the following periods is one year or more:

  • (a) the period during which the contributor and the survivor had cohabited during the marriage; and

  • (b) the period during which the contributor and the survivor had cohabited in a conjugal relationship immediately before the marriage.

• Marginal note:Application of subsection (3)

  (8) Subsection (3) applies only to a person who has made an application pursuant to that subsection that is pending on the coming into force of section 63.1.

• Marginal note:Application of subsection (4)

  (9) Subsection (4) applies only to a person whose marriage is terminated as described in that subsection before the coming into force of section 63.1.

• Marginal note:Subsection does not apply

  (10) Subsection (5) does not apply in respect of a survivor’s pension that becomes payable pursuant to section 63.1.

Marginal note:Subsections do not apply

• 63.1 (1) Subsections 63(1) and (2) do not apply to a person who remarries after the coming into force of this section.

• Marginal note:Application for commencement or reinstatement of survivor’s pension

  (2) Where, before the coming into force of subsection (1),

  • (a) a survivor’s pension that, but for the operation of subsection 63(1), would have become payable to a person did not become payable to the person, or

  • (b) the payment of a survivor’s pension to a person was discontinued under subsection 63(2),

  and the person is not being paid a survivor’s pension at the time that this section comes into force, an application in writing to the Minister for the commencement or reinstatement, as the case may be, of the survivor’s pension may be made by the person or on behalf of the person by such other person as may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Commencement of survivor’s pension

  (3) On approval by the Minister of an application referred to in subsection (2), a survivor’s pension is payable to the applicant for each month commencing with the later of

  • (a) the month in which this section comes into force, and

  • (b) the eleventh month preceding the month in which the application is received by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Basic monthly amount of survivor’s pension

  (4) Where a survivor’s pension becomes payable under this section to a person, the basic monthly amount of the pension shall be calculated in accordance with section 58 as though

  • (a) in the case of a person referred to in paragraph (2)(a), the survivor’s pension that would have become payable to the person but for the operation of subsection 63(1) became payable at the time that it would have become payable but for that subsection; and

  • (b) in the case of a person referred to in paragraph (2)(b), payment of the survivor’s pension to the person had not been discontinued under subsection 63(2).

64 [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 32]

Marginal note:Benefit not to be assigned, etc.

• 65 (1) A benefit shall not be assigned, charged, attached, anticipated or given as security, and any transaction purporting to assign, charge, attach, anticipate or give as security a benefit is void.

• Marginal note:Benefit not subject to seizure or execution

  (1.1) A benefit is exempt from seizure and execution, either at law or in equity.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (1.1), where any provincial authority or municipal authority in a province pays a person any advance or assistance or welfare payment for a month or any portion of a month that would not be paid if a benefit under this Act had been paid for that period and subsequently a benefit becomes payable or payment of a benefit may be made under this Act to that person for that period, the Minister may, in accordance with any terms and conditions that may be prescribed, deduct from that benefit and pay to the provincial authority or municipal authority, as the case may be, an amount not exceeding the amount of the advance or assistance or welfare payment paid.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (1.1), where an administrator of a disability income program who is approved by the Minister makes a payment under that program to a person for a month or any portion of a month that would not have been made if a benefit under paragraph 44(1)(b) had been paid to that person for that period and subsequently a benefit becomes payable or payment of a benefit may be made under this Act to that person for that period, the Minister may, in accordance with any terms and conditions that may be prescribed, deduct from that benefit and pay to the administrator an amount not exceeding the amount of the payment made under that program.

Marginal note:Assignment of retirement pension to spouse or common-law partner

• 65.1 (1) Notwithstanding subsection 65(1) but subject to this section, the Minister may approve the assignment of a portion of a contributor’s retirement pension to the contributor’s spouse or common-law partner, on application in prescribed manner and form by the contributor or the spouse or common-law partner, if the circumstances described in either subsection (6) or (7) exist.

• (2) [Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 52]

• Marginal note:Agreement or court order not binding on Minister

  (3) Except as provided in subsection (4), where, on or after June 4, 1986, a written agreement between persons subject to an assignment under this section was entered into, or a court order was made, the provisions of that agreement or court order are not binding on the Minister for the purposes of an assignment under this section.

• Marginal note:Agreement binding on Minister

  (4) Where

  • (a) a written agreement between persons subject to an assignment under this section entered into on or after June 4, 1986 contains a provision that expressly mentions this Act and indicates the intention of the persons that there be no assignment under this section,

  • (b) that provision of the agreement is expressly permitted under the provincial law that governs such agreements,

  • (c) the agreement was entered into before the day of the application for the assignment, and

  • (d) that provision of the agreement has not been invalidated by a court order,

  that provision of the agreement is binding on the Minister and, consequently, the Minister shall not approve an assignment under this section.

• Marginal note:Minister to notify parties

  (5) The Minister shall, forthwith after receiving an application from one spouse or from one common-law partner for an assignment under this section, notify the other spouse or common-law partner, in prescribed manner, that such an application has been made, and of such other information as the Minister deems necessary.

• Marginal note:Double assignment

  (6) Where

  • (a) a retirement pension is payable to both spouses or to both common-law partners under this Act, or

  • (b) a retirement pension is payable to one spouse or to one common-law partner under this Act and a retirement pension is payable to the other spouse or common-law partner under a provincial pension plan and an agreement under section 80 provides for an assignment in this circumstance,

  the assignment shall be made in respect of both retirement pensions and, in the case described in paragraph (b), in accordance with the agreement.

• Marginal note:Single assignment

  (7) Where, in respect of spouses or common-law partners,

  • (a) one is a contributor under this Act and the other is not a contributor under either this Act or a provincial pension plan,

  • (b) a retirement pension is payable under this Act to the contributor, and

  • (c) the non-contributor has reached sixty years of age,

  the assignment shall be made only in respect of the retirement pension of the contributor.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (8) In subsection (9),

  joint contributory period

  période cotisable conjointe

  joint contributory period means the period commencing on January 1, 1966 or with the month in which the elder of the two spouses or of the two common-law partners reaches eighteen years of age, whichever is later, and ending

  • (a) where both spouses or common-law partners are contributors, with the month in which the later of their respective contributory periods ends, or

  • (b) where only one spouse or common-law partner is a contributor, with the later of

    • (i) the month in which the contributor’s contributory period ends, and

    • (ii) the earlier of the month in which the non-contributor reaches seventy years of age and the month in which an application for an assignment of a retirement pension is approved,

  but excluding, where subsection (6) applies, any month that is excluded from the contributory period of both spouses or common-law partners pursuant to paragraph 49(c) or (d); (période cotisable conjointe)

  period of cohabitation

  période de cohabitation

  period of cohabitation has the prescribed meaning, but in all cases shall be deemed to end with the month in which the joint contributory period ends. (période de cohabitation)

• Marginal note:Portion of pension assignable

  (9) The portion of a contributor’s retirement pension to be assigned to the contributor’s spouse or common-law partner under this section is an amount calculated by multiplying

  • (a) the amount of the contributor’s retirement pension, calculated in accordance with sections 45 to 53,

  by

  • (b) fifty per cent of the ratio that the number of months in the period of cohabitation bears to the number of months in the joint contributory period.

• Marginal note:When assignment commences

  (10) An assignment under this section commences with the month following the month in which the application for the assignment is approved.

• Marginal note:When assignment ceases

  (11) An assignment under this section ceases with the earliest of

  • (a) the month in which either spouse or either common-law partner dies,

  • (b) the twelfth month following the month in which the spouses or the common-law partners commence to live separate and apart within the meaning of paragraphs 55.1(2)(a) and (b) (and in those paragraphs a reference to “persons subject to a division” shall be read as a reference to “spouses or common-law partners”),

  • (c) where subsection (7) applies, the month in which the non-contributor spouse or the non-contributor common-law partner becomes a contributor,

  • (d) the month in which a decree absolute of divorce, a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or a judgment of nullity of a marriage is issued, and

  • (e) the month following the month in which the Minister approves a request or requests in writing from both spouses or both common-law partners that the assignment be cancelled.

• Marginal note:Request for reinstatement

  (11.1) Where paragraph (11)(e) applies, either spouse or either common-law partner may make a request in writing to the Minister to have the assignment reinstated.

• Marginal note:When reinstatement effective

  (11.2) An assignment shall be reinstated on the first day of the month following the month in which the Minister approves the request referred to in subsection (11.1).

• Marginal note:Notification of assignment

  (12) On approval by the Minister of an assignment under this section, both spouses or both common-law partners shall be notified in the prescribed manner.

Marginal note:Return of benefit where recipient not entitled

• 66 (1) A person or estate that has received or obtained by cheque or otherwise a benefit payment to which the person or estate is not entitled, or a benefit payment in excess of the amount of the benefit payment to which the person or estate is entitled, shall forthwith return the cheque or the amount of the benefit payment, or the excess amount, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amount of payment

  (2) If a person has received or obtained a benefit payment to which the person is not entitled, or a benefit payment in excess of the amount of the benefit payment to which the person is entitled, the amount of the benefit payment or the excess amount, as the case may be, constitutes a debt due to Her Majesty and is recoverable at any time in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amount of interest

  (2.01) Interest payable under this Part constitutes a debt due to Her Majesty and is recoverable at any time in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Set-off

  (2.1) Where any amount is or becomes payable to the person or the person’s estate or succession under this Act or any other Act or program administered by the Minister, that indebtedness may, in the prescribed manner, be deducted and retained out of the amount payable.

• Marginal note:Certificates

  (2.2) All or part of the amount of that indebtedness that has not been recovered may be certified by the Minister

  • (a) without delay, if in the Minister’s opinion the person liable to pay the amount is attempting to avoid payment; and

  • (b) in any other case, on the expiration of 30 days after the default.

• Marginal note:Judgment

  (2.3) On production to the Federal Court, the certificate shall be registered in the Court. When it is registered, it has the same force and effect, and all proceedings may be taken, as if the certificate were a judgment obtained in the Court for a debt of the amount specified in the certificate.

• Marginal note:Judgment

  (2.4) A certificate registered under subsection (2.3) may also be registered in the superior court of a province as if it were a document evidencing a judgment of that court.

• Marginal note:Costs

  (2.5) All reasonable costs and charges for the registration of the certificate are recoverable in the same way as if they had been certified and the certificate registered under this section.

• Marginal note:Charge on land

  (2.6) A document issued by the Federal Court or by a superior court of a province evidencing a certificate in respect of a debtor registered under subsection (2.3) or (2.4) may be recorded for the purpose of creating security, or a charge, lien or legal hypothec, on land in a province, or on an interest in land in a province, held or owned by the debtor, in the same manner as a document evidencing a judgment of the superior court of the province against a person for a debt owing by the person may be recorded in accordance with the law of the province to create security, or a charge, lien or legal hypothec, on land, or an interest in land, held or owned by the person.

• Marginal note:Garnishment

  (2.7) If the Minister knows or suspects that a person is or is about to become indebted or liable to make a payment to a person liable to make a payment to Her Majesty under this Part, the Minister may, by a notice served personally or by confirmed delivery service, require the first person to pay the money otherwise payable to the second person in whole or in part to the Receiver General on account of the second person’s liability.

• Marginal note:Debt due to the Crown

  (2.8) An amount not paid as required by a notice under subsection (2.7) is a debt due to Her Majesty.

• Marginal note:Proof of personal service

  (2.9) If provision is made by this Act or the regulations for personal service of a request for information or a notice or demand, an affidavit of the person effecting service stating that

  • (a) the person has charge of the appropriate records and has knowledge of the facts in the particular case,

  • (b) such a request, notice or demand was served personally on a named day on the person to whom it was directed, and

  • (c) the person identifies as an exhibit attached to the affidavit a true copy of the request, notice or demand,

  is evidence of the personal service and of the request, notice or demand.

• Marginal note:Remission of amount owing

  (3) Notwithstanding paragraph 61(2)(b) and subsections (1) and (2) of this section, where a person has received or obtained a benefit payment to which he is not entitled, or a benefit payment in excess of the amount of the benefit payment to which he is entitled, and the Minister is satisfied that

  • (a) the amount or excess of the benefit payment cannot be collected within the reasonably foreseeable future,

  • (b) the administrative costs of collecting the amount or excess of the benefit payment are likely to equal or exceed the amount to be collected,

  • (c) repayment of the amount or excess of the benefit payment would cause undue hardship to the debtor, or

  • (d) the amount or excess of the benefit payment is the result of erroneous advice or administrative error on the part of the Minister or an official of the Department of Social Development acting in an official capacity in the administration of this Act,

  the Minister may, unless that person has been convicted of an offence under any provision of this Act or of the Criminal Code in connection with the obtaining of the benefit payment, remit all or any portion of the amount or excess of the benefit payment.

• Marginal note:Where person denied benefit due to departmental error, etc.

  (4) Where the Minister is satisfied that, as a result of erroneous advice or administrative error in the administration of this Act, any person has been denied

  • (a) a benefit, or portion thereof, to which that person would have been entitled under this Act,

  • (b) a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1, or

  • (c) an assignment of a retirement pension under section 65.1,

  the Minister shall take such remedial action as the Minister considers appropriate to place the person in the position that the person would be in under this Act had the erroneous advice not been given or the administrative error not been made.

• Marginal note:When person denied division

  (5) Where the Minister is satisfied that a person has been denied a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1 as a result of the provisions of a written agreement entered into or a court order made before June 4, 1986, the Minister shall take such remedial action as the Minister considers appropriate to place the person in the position that the person would be in under this Act had the division been approved, including attributing to that person the earnings that would have been attributed had the division been approved, if

  • (a) the agreement or order does not indicate that there be no division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under this Act; and

  • (b) all other criteria specified by or under this Act respecting divisions are met.

• Marginal note:Exclusion of Financial Administration Act

  (6) Section 155.1 of the Financial Administration Act does not apply in relation to amounts owing to Her Majesty under this Part.

Marginal note:Request to cancel benefit

• 66.1 (1) A beneficiary may, in prescribed manner and within the prescribed time interval after payment of a benefit has commenced, request cancellation of that benefit.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (1.1) Subsection (1) does not apply to the cancellation of a retirement pension in favour of a disability benefit where an applicant for a disability benefit under this Act or under a provincial pension plan is in receipt of a retirement pension and the applicant is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of entitlement to the disability benefit in or after the month for which the retirement pension first became payable.

• Marginal note:Effect of cancellation

  (2) Where a request made under subsection (1) or under a substantially similar provision of a provincial pension plan is granted and the amount of the benefits paid is repaid within the prescribed time or, in the case of a provincial pension plan, the time provided thereunder, that benefit shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act not to have been payable during the period in question.

DIVISION DPayment of Benefits: Special Rules Applicable

Retirement Pension

Marginal note:Commencement of retirement pension

• 67 (1) For a retirement pension that commences to be payable before January 1, 1987, subject to section 62, where an applicant, other than an estate, has reached sixty-five years of age and payment of the retirement pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with

  • (a) the month in which the applicant reached sixty-five years of age,

  • (b) the latest of the eleventh month preceding the month in which the application was received, the month following the month in which the contributor last worked and for which a contribution was made under this Act or a provincial pension plan and the month following the last month for which unadjusted pensionable earnings have been attributed under section 55, or

  • (c) the month for which the applicant applied for the pension to commence,

  whichever is the latest.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) For a retirement pension that commences to be payable on or after January 1, 1987 and where the applicant is not an estate, subject to section 62, where payment of the retirement pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with the latest of

  • (a) the month in which the applicant reached sixty years of age,

  • (b) the month following the month in which the applicant applied, if he was under seventy years of age when he applied,

  • (c) the month following the month in which the applicant wholly or substantially ceased to be engaged in paid employment or self-employment, if he is then under sixty-five years of age,

  • (d) the month in which the applicant reached sixty-five years of age, if he has not wholly or substantially ceased to be engaged in paid employment or self-employment,

  • (e) the twelfth month preceding the month following the month in which the applicant applied, if he was over seventy years of age when he applied,

  • (f) the month in which the applicant reached seventy years of age, if he applied after reaching that age,

  • (g) the month of January 1987, if the applicant has reached sixty years of age but not sixty-five years of age before that month, and

  • (h) the month chosen by the applicant in his application.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Where a person who has applied to receive a retirement pension attains the age of sixty-five years before the day on which the application is received, the pension is payable commencing with the latest of

  • (a) the twelfth month before the month after the month in which the applicant applied or the month of January 1995, whichever is later,

  • (b) the month in which the applicant reaches the age of sixty-five years, or

  • (c) the month chosen by the applicant in the application.

• Marginal note:Deemed application where disability pension ceased

  (4) Where a disability pension is no longer payable because a decision that the person was disabled has been reversed or because the person has ceased to be disabled, and on or before the day that is 90 days after the day on which the person is notified that the disability pension has ceased, or within any longer period that the Minister may either before or after the expiration of those 90 days allow, the person applies for a retirement pension, that application is deemed to have been received in the latest of

  • (a) the month in which the disability pension application was made,

  • (b) the last month for which the disability pension was payable, and

  • (c) the month before the month in which the contributor reached the age of 60 years.

Marginal note:Duration of payment

68 Subject to this Act, a retirement pension shall continue to be paid during the lifetime of the beneficiary, and shall cease with the payment for the month in which the beneficiary dies.

Marginal note:Proof of cessation of employment

68.1 A contributor who has not reached sixty-five years of age at the time of applying for a retirement pension must provide with his application, in prescribed form, proof that he has wholly or substantially ceased to be engaged in paid employment or self-employment.

Disability Pension

Marginal note:Commencement of pension

69 Subject to section 62, where payment of a disability pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with the fourth month following the month in which the applicant became disabled, except that where the applicant was, at any time during the five year period next before the month in which the applicant became disabled as a result of which the payment is approved, in receipt of a disability pension payable under this Act or under a provincial pension plan,

• (a) the pension is payable for each month commencing with the month next following the month in which the applicant became disabled as a result of which the payment is approved; and

• (b) the reference to “fifteen months” in paragraph 42(2)(b) shall be read as a reference to “twelve months”.

Marginal note:When pension ceases to be payable

• 70 (1) A disability pension ceases to be payable with the payment

  • (a) for the month in which the beneficiary ceases to be disabled;

  • (b) for the month immediately preceding the month in which the beneficiary commences to receive a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan;

  • (c) for the month in which the beneficiary reaches sixty-five years of age; or

  • (d) for the month in which the beneficiary dies.

• Marginal note:Application for retirement pension deemed to have been made

  (2) Where a disability pension ceases to be payable to a person by reason of his having reached sixty-five years of age, an application under section 60 shall be deemed to have been made by and received from that person, in the month in which he reached that age, for a retirement pension to commence with the month following that month.

• Marginal note:Effect of receiving a retirement pension

  (3) A person who commences to receive a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan is thereafter ineligible to apply or re-apply, at any time, for a disability pension under this Act, except as provided in section 66.1 or in a substantially similar provision of a provincial pension plan, as the case may be.

Marginal note:Reinstatement of disability pension

• 70.1 (1) Subject to this section, a person who has ceased to receive a disability pension because they have returned to work is entitled to have that disability pension reinstated if, within two years after the month in which they ceased to receive the disability pension, they become incapable again of working.

• Marginal note:Request for reinstatement

  (2) A request by a person for reinstatement of a disability pension shall be made to the Minister in accordance with the regulations. Subsections 60(2), (4), (5) and (8) to (12) apply to the request, with any modifications that the circumstances require.

• Marginal note:Consideration and approval of request by Minister

  (3) The Minister shall approve a request made by a person under subsection (2) if the Minister is satisfied that

  • (a) the person has a severe and prolonged mental or physical disability that is the same as, or is related to, the disability that entitled the person to receive the disability pension that is the subject of the request;

  • (b) not more than two years have elapsed from the month in which the person ceased to receive the disability pension to the month when they became incapable again of working; and

  • (c) the person had not reached sixty-five years of age and was not receiving a retirement pension in the month in which they became incapable again of working.

• Marginal note:Reinstatement of disabled contributor’s child benefit

  (4) On reinstatement of a disability pension under subsection (3), the Minister shall approve the reinstatement of a disabled contributor’s child benefit that had been payable to the child of the person whose disability pension is reinstated if the Minister is satisfied that the child meets the requirements under this Act for payment of a disabled contributor’s child benefit.

• Marginal note:Notification of decision — disability pension

  (5) The Minister shall in writing inform a person who makes a request for reinstatement of a disability pension of the Minister’s decision whether or not to approve the request.

• Marginal note:Notification of decision — disabled contributor’s child benefit

  (6) The Minister shall in writing inform a person who has made a request for reinstatement of a disability pension, a child of that person or, in relation to that child, a person or agency referred to in section 75 of the Minister’s decision whether or not to approve a disabled contributor’s child benefit.

• Marginal note:Application of provisions — disability pension

  (7) The provisions of this Act that apply to a disability pension, except paragraphs 42(2)(b), 44(1)(b) and 44(2)(a) and section 69, apply to a disability pension that is reinstated under this section, with any modifications that the circumstances require.

• Marginal note:Application of provisions — disabled contributor’s child benefit

  (8) The provisions of this Act that apply to a disabled contributor’s child benefit, except paragraphs 44(1)(e) and 44(2)(a) and subsection 74(2), apply to a disabled contributor’s child benefit that is reinstated under this section, with such modifications as the circumstances require.

• Marginal note:Amount of disability pension and survivor’s pension

  (9) Despite subsection (7) and subject to any division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under sections 55 to 55.3, the basic monthly amount of a disability pension that is reinstated, and the monthly amount of any survivor’s pension under this Act that is payable to the person whose disability pension is reinstated, shall not be less than the amount that was payable for the month immediately preceding the month in which the pension ceased to be payable, adjusted annually in accordance with subsection 45(2).

• Marginal note:Commencement of payments

  (10) A disability pension or a contributor’s child benefit that is reinstated pursuant to a request under this section is payable commencing with the month following the month in which the person who made the request under this section became incapable again of working.

Death Benefit

Marginal note:Payable to estate

• 71 (1) Where payment of a death benefit is approved, the Minister shall, except as provided in subsections (2) and (3), pay the death benefit to the estate of the contributor.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (2) The Minister may direct payment of a death benefit in whole or in part to such person or body as is prescribed where

  • (a) he is satisfied, after making reasonable inquiries, that there is no estate;

  • (b) the estate has not applied for the death benefit within the prescribed time interval following the contributor’s death; or

  • (c) the amount of the death benefit is less than the prescribed amount.

• Marginal note:No double payment

  (3) Where a payment has been made pursuant to subsection (2), the Minister is not liable to make that payment to any subsequent applicant.

Survivor’s Pension

Marginal note:Commencement of pension

• 72 (1) Subject to subsection (2) and section 62, where payment of a survivor’s pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with the month following

  • (a) the month in which the contributor died, in the case of a survivor who at the time of the death of the contributor had reached thirty-five years of age or was a survivor with dependent children,

  • (b) the month in which the survivor became a survivor who, not having reached sixty-five years of age, is disabled, in the case of a survivor other than a survivor described in paragraph (a), or

  • (c) the month in which the survivor reached sixty-five years of age, in the case of a survivor other than a survivor described in paragraph (a) or (b),

  but in no case earlier than the twelfth month preceding the month following the month in which the application was received.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  Footnote ^*(2) In the case of a survivor who was the contributor’s common-law partner and was not, immediately before the coming into force of this subsection, a person described in subparagraph (a)(ii) of the definition spouse in subsection 2(1) as that definition read at that time, no survivor’s pension may be paid for any month before the month in which this subsection comes into force.

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Subsection 72(2) in force July 31, 2000, see SI/2000-76.]

Marginal note:Duration of payment

• 73 (1) Subject to this Act, a survivor’s pension shall continue to be paid during the lifetime of the beneficiary, and shall cease with the payment for the month in which the beneficiary dies.

• Marginal note:Special case

  Footnote ^*(2) If

  • (a) a contributor died on or after January 1, 1998 but before the coming into force of this subsection, and

  • (b) a survivor’s pension was, immediately before that coming into force, payable to a survivor who had been married to the contributor at the time of the contributor’s death,

  the approval of payment of a survivor’s pension, in respect of that contributor’s death, to a survivor who was the contributor’s common-law partner at the time of the contributor’s death and was not a person described in subparagraph (a)(ii) of the definition spouse in subsection 2(1) as that definition read at that time, does not affect the right of the survivor referred to in paragraph (b) to continue to receive the survivor’s pension in accordance with subsection (1).

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Subsection 73(2) in force July 31, 2000, see SI/2000-76.]

Disabled Contributor’s Child’s Benefit and Orphan’s Benefit

Marginal note:Persons by whom application may be made

• 74 (1) An application for a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit or orphan’s benefit may be made on behalf of a disabled contributor’s child or orphan by the child or orphan or by any other person or agency to whom the benefit would, if the application were approved, be payable under this Part.

• Marginal note:Commencement of payment of benefit

  (2) Subject to section 62, where payment of a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit or orphan’s benefit in respect of a contributor is approved, the benefit is payable for each month commencing with,

  • (a) in the case of a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit, the later of

    • (i) the month commencing with which a disability pension is payable to the contributor under this Act or under a provincial pension plan, and

    • (ii) the month next following the month in which the child was born or otherwise became a child of the contributor, and

  • (b) in the case of an orphan’s benefit, the later of

    • (i) the month following the month in which the contributor died, and

    • (ii) the month next following the month in which the child was born,

  but in no case earlier than the twelfth month preceding the month following the month in which the application was received.

• Marginal note:No benefit in respect of more than two contributors

  (3) Where a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit has become payable to a child under this Act or under a provincial pension plan in respect of any contributor thereunder or an orphan’s benefit has become payable to an orphan under this Act or under a provincial pension plan in respect of any contributor thereunder, no disabled contributor’s child’s benefit or orphan’s benefit is payable to that person under this Act in respect of any other such contributor except another parent of that person, and in no case shall such a benefit be paid to that person in respect of more than two contributors.

• Marginal note:Meaning of parent

  (3.1) In subsection (3), parent has the reciprocal meaning to that of “child”.

• (4) [Repealed, 1991, c. 44, s. 18]

Marginal note:Payment of benefit

75 Where a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit is payable to a child of a disabled contributor or an orphan’s benefit is payable to an orphan of a contributor, payment thereof shall, if the child or orphan has not reached eighteen years of age, be made to the person or agency having custody and control of the child or orphan, or, where there is no person or agency having custody and control of the child or orphan, to such person or agency as the Minister may direct, and for the purposes of this Part,

• (a) the contributor, in relation to a disabled contributor’s child, except where the child is living apart from the contributor, and

• (b) the survivor, if any, of the contributor, in relation to an orphan, except where the orphan is living apart from the survivor,

shall be presumed, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, to be the person having custody and control of the child or orphan.

Marginal note:When disabled contributor’s child’s benefit ceases to be payable

• 76 (1) A disabled contributor’s child’s benefit ceases to be payable with the payment for the month in which

  • (a) the child ceases to be a dependent child;

  • (b) the child dies;

  • (c) the contributor’s disability benefit ceases to be payable;

  • (d) the child is adopted legally or in fact by someone other than the disabled contributor or the disabled contributor’s spouse or common-law partner, unless the disabled contributor is maintaining the child, as defined by regulation; or

  • (e) the disabled contributor ceases to have custody and control of the child, where the child is a child as defined in subsection 42(1) by reason of the disabled contributor having had such custody and control.

• Marginal note:When orphan’s benefit ceases to be payable

  (2) An orphan’s benefit ceases to be payable with the payment for the month in which the child ceases to be a dependent child or dies.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Where, by reason of the death of a contributor, a disabled contributor’s child’s benefit ceases to be payable to a person who is 18 years of age or older at the time of that death, an application under section 60 for an orphan’s benefit shall be deemed to have been made by that person in the month in which the contributor died.

DIVISION EPayment of Benefits: Amount Payable Under Canada Pension Plan

Marginal note:Amount of benefit payable under Act

77 Where, by virtue of any provision of this Act other than this section, a benefit is payable under this Act to or in respect of any contributor, notwithstanding anything in this Part except as provided in section 80, the amount of the benefit that is payable under this Act is an amount equal to that proportion of the amount of the benefit payable to or in respect of the contributor, calculated as provided in this Part without regard to this section, that

• (a) the total pensionable earnings of the contributor attributable to contributions made under this Act,

are of

• (b) the total pensionable earnings of the contributor.

Marginal note:Total pensionable earnings attributable to contributions made under Act

78 The total pensionable earnings of a contributor attributable to contributions made under this Act are an amount equal to the amount that his total pensionable earnings would be if the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the contributor for a year were that proportion of his unadjusted pensionable earnings for the year that

• (a) his earnings on which a contribution has been made for the year under this Act, calculated as provided in subparagraph 53(b)(i),

are of

• (b) the aggregate of the amount mentioned in paragraph (a) and his earnings on which a contribution has been made for the year under a provincial pension plan, calculated as provided in subparagraph 53(b)(ii).

Marginal note:Total pensionable earnings attributable to contributions made under Act as a result of division

79 For a year of a division as determined under section 55 or 55.1 and under a provincial pension plan, the total pensionable earnings of a contributor attributable to contributions made under this Act are an amount equal to the amount that his total pensionable earnings would be if the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the contributor for the year were that proportion of his unadjusted pensionable earnings for the year that

• (a) his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under subsection 55(4) or 55.2(5)

are of

• (b) his total unadjusted pensionable earnings for the year determined under subsection 55(5) or 55.2(6).

Marginal note:Agreements with provinces

• 80 (1) Notwithstanding section 77, the Minister, with the approval of the Governor in Council, may on behalf of the Government of Canada enter into an agreement with the appropriate authority of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan to provide for the administration and coordination of this Act and the provincial pension plan in respect of persons who are contributors under this Act or the provincial plan or both, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,

  • (a) the determination and payment of any benefit, or portion thereof, payable under this Act or under the provincial pension plan;

  • (b) the determination, processing and approval of divisions of unadjusted pensionable earnings under this Act and under the provincial pension plan;

  • (c) the determination, processing and approval of applications for assignments, under this Act or under the provincial pension plan, of a retirement pension to the spouse or common-law partner of a contributor;

  • (d) the exchange of such information obtained under this Act or under the provincial pension plan as is necessary to give effect to the agreement; and

  • (e) the payment under this Act in accordance with the agreement of the whole amount of any benefit payable to or in respect of a contributor, calculated as provided in this Part without regard to section 77, in which case the whole amount of that benefit shall be deemed to be payable under this Act to or in respect of that contributor.

• Marginal note:Saving

  (2) Where, in accordance with any agreement entered into under subsection (1), the whole amount of any benefit payable to or in respect of a contributor, calculated in a manner similar to that described in paragraph (1)(e), is payable under the provincial pension plan referred to in that subsection, the whole amount of that benefit shall be deemed to be payable under the provincial pension plan to or in respect of that contributor.

• Marginal note:Provision for making of financial adjustments

  (3) Any agreement entered into under subsection (1) may provide therein for the making of any financial adjustments required to be made by reason of any payments made to or in respect of a contributor in accordance with that agreement, and for the crediting or charging of the amount of those adjustments to the Canada Pension Plan Account.

Marginal note:Agreements respecting the apportionment of payments

• 80.1 (1) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, on behalf of the Government of Canada enter into an agreement with any person or body responsible for the administration of

  • (a) any other Act of Parliament,

  • (b) an Act of the legislature of a province, or

  • (c) a federal or provincial activity established other than under an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province,

  that provides for periodic payments to persons in respect of accidents, injuries, illnesses and occupational diseases for the purpose of limiting the total amount that is payable to a beneficiary as a disability benefit under this Act and as periodic payments under that other law or activity.

• Marginal note:Apportionment of payments

  (2) The agreement shall provide rules for determining how much, if any, of the total amount payable to a beneficiary shall be payable under this Act and how much, if any, shall be payable under that other law or activity.

• Marginal note:Effect of agreement

  (3) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, but subject to subsection (4), where an agreement entered into pursuant to subsection (1) applies in respect of a beneficiary, the only amounts that may be payable as disability benefits to the beneficiary under this Act are the amounts provided for by the agreement.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (4) An agreement may not

  • (a) change a person’s eligibility to receive a benefit as a disabled contributor’s child or the amount of that benefit;

  • (b) change the determination of months that are excluded from a beneficiary’s contributory period by reason of disability;

  • (c) result in a beneficiary receiving, in respect of any month, disability benefits under this Act and payments under the other law or activity that are less than the disability benefits that would be otherwise payable under this Act for the month if there were no such agreement; or

  • (d) result in a beneficiary receiving, in respect of any month, disability benefits under this Act that are greater than the disability benefits that would otherwise be payable under this Act if there were no agreement.

DIVISION FReconsiderations and Appeals

Marginal note:Appeal to Minister

• 81 (1) Where

  • (a) a spouse, former spouse, common-law partner, former common-law partner or estate is dissatisfied with any decision made under section 55, 55.1, 55.2 or 55.3,

  • (b) an applicant is dissatisfied with any decision made under section 60,

  • (c) a beneficiary is dissatisfied with any determination as to the amount of a benefit payable to the beneficiary or as to the beneficiary’s eligibility to receive a benefit,

  • (d) a beneficiary or the beneficiary’s spouse or common-law partner is dissatisfied with any decision made under section 65.1, or

  • (e) a person who made a request under section 70.1, a child of that person or, in relation to that child, a person or agency referred to in section 75 is dissatisfied with any decision made under section 70.1,

  the dissatisfied party or, subject to the regulations, any person on behalf thereof may, within ninety days after the day on which the dissatisfied party was notified in the prescribed manner of the decision or determination, or within such longer period as the Minister may either before or after the expiration of those ninety days allow, make a request to the Minister in the prescribed form and manner for a reconsideration of that decision or determination.

• Marginal note:Reconsideration by Minister and decision

  (2) The Minister shall forthwith reconsider any decision or determination referred to in subsection (1) and may confirm or vary it, and may approve payment of a benefit, determine the amount of a benefit or determine that no benefit is payable, and shall thereupon in writing notify the party who made the request under subsection (1) of the Minister’s decision and of the reasons therefor.

Marginal note:Appeal to Review Tribunal

• 82 (1) A party who is dissatisfied with a decision of the Minister made under section 81 or subsection 84(2), or a person who is dissatisfied with a decision of the Minister made under subsection 27.1(2) of the Old Age Security Act, or, subject to the regulations, any person on their behalf, may appeal the decision to a Review Tribunal in writing within 90 days, or any longer period that the Commissioner of Review Tribunals may, either before or after the expiration of those 90 days, allow, after the day on which the party was notified in the prescribed manner of the decision or the person was notified in writing of the Minister’s decision and of the reasons for it.

• Marginal note:Constitution of Review Tribunal

  (2) A Review Tribunal shall be constituted in accordance with this section.

• Marginal note:Panel

  (3) The Governor in Council shall appoint a panel of between one hundred and four hundred persons resident in Canada, in such a way that, at any given time,

  • (a) at least twenty-five per cent of the members of the panel are members of the bar of a province;

  • (b) at least twenty-five per cent of the members of the panel are persons qualified to practise medicine or a prescribed related profession in a province; and

  • (c) there are members of the panel from every region of Canada.

• Marginal note:Term of appointment to panel

  (4) A person shall be appointed to the panel pursuant to subsection (3) for a term of at least two but not exceeding five years and is eligible for re-appointment on the expiration of his term.

• Marginal note:Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Review Tribunals

  (5) The Governor in Council shall appoint a Commissioner of Review Tribunals and a Deputy Commissioner of Review Tribunals, each for a term of at least two but not exceeding five years, and the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner are eligible for re-appointment on the expiration of their respective terms.

• Marginal note:Absence, etc., of Commissioner

  (6) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Commissioner of Review Tribunals or if the office of Commissioner is vacant, the Deputy Commissioner of Review Tribunals has all the powers of the Commissioner.

• Marginal note:Composition of Review Tribunal

  (7) Each Review Tribunal shall consist of three persons chosen by the Commissioner from among the members of the panel referred to in subsection (3), subject to the following requirements:

  • (a) the Commissioner must designate a member of the bar of a province as the Chairman of the Review Tribunal; and

  • (b) where the appeal to be heard involves a disability benefit, at least one member of the Review Tribunal must be a person qualified to practise medicine or a prescribed related profession in a province.

• Marginal note:Hearing

  (8) An appeal to a Review Tribunal shall be heard at such place in Canada as is fixed by the Commissioner, having regard to the convenience of the appellant, the Minister, and any other person added as a party to the appeal pursuant to subsection (10).

• Marginal note:Remuneration and expenses

  (9) The Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and members of Review Tribunals shall be paid such reasonable remuneration and travel and living expenses in connection with the operation of Review Tribunals as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Expenses of appellant

  (9.1) An appellant shall be paid such reasonable travel and living expenses incurred in Canada in connection with the hearing of the appeal as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Where appeal successful

  (9.2) Notwithstanding subsection (9.1), where an appellant is successful, the appellant shall be paid such reasonable travel and living expenses in connection with the hearing of the appeal as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Expenses of other parties

  (9.3) Any person added as a party to the appeal pursuant to subsection (10) shall be paid such reasonable travel and living expenses in connection with the hearing of the appeal as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Addition of party to appeal

  (10) Where an appeal is made to a Review Tribunal in respect of

  • (a) a survivor’s pension payable to the survivor of a deceased contributor,

  • (b) a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55, 55.1 or 55.2, or

  • (c) an assignment of a contributor’s retirement pension under section 65.1

  and in the Minister’s opinion a person in addition to the appellant may be directly affected by the decision of the Review Tribunal, the Minister shall notify the Commissioner of all such persons, and the Commissioner shall add as a party to the appeal any such person who is not already a party thereto.

• Marginal note:Powers of Review Tribunal

  (11) A Review Tribunal may confirm or vary a decision of the Minister made under section 81 or subsection 84(2) or under subsection 27.1(2) of the Old Age Security Act and may take any action in relation to any of those decisions that might have been taken by the Minister under that section or either of those subsections, and the Commissioner of Review Tribunals shall thereupon notify the Minister and the other parties to the appeal of the Review Tribunal’s decision and of the reasons for its decision.

• Marginal note:Decision of majority

  (12) A decision of the majority of the members of a Review Tribunal is a decision of the Tribunal.

Marginal note:Appeal to Pension Appeals Board

• 83 (1) A party or, subject to the regulations, any person on behalf thereof, or the Minister, if dissatisfied with a decision of a Review Tribunal made under section 82, other than a decision made in respect of an appeal referred to in subsection 28(1) of the Old Age Security Act, or under subsection 84(2), may, within ninety days after the day on which that decision was communicated to the party or Minister, or within such longer period as the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Pension Appeals Board may either before or after the expiration of those ninety days allow, apply in writing to the Chairman or Vice-Chairman for leave to appeal that decision to the Pension Appeals Board.

• Marginal note:Decision of Chairman or Vice-Chairman

  (2) The Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Pension Appeals Board shall, forthwith after receiving an application for leave to appeal to the Pension Appeals Board, either grant or refuse that leave.

• Marginal note:Designation

  (2.1) The Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Pension Appeals Board may designate any member or temporary member of the Pension Appeals Board to exercise the powers or perform the duties referred to in subsection (1) or (2).

• Marginal note:Where leave refused

  (3) Where leave to appeal is refused, written reasons must be given by the person who refused the leave.

• Marginal note:Where leave granted

  (4) Where leave to appeal is granted, the application for leave to appeal thereupon becomes the notice of appeal, and shall be deemed to have been filed at the time the application for leave to appeal was filed.

• Marginal note:Constitution of Board

  (5) The Pension Appeals Board shall consist of the following members to be appointed by the Governor in Council:

  • (a) a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman, each of whom shall be a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court or a superior court of a province; and

  • (b) not less than one and not more than ten other persons, each of whom shall be a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court or a superior court of a province.

• Marginal note:Temporary members of the Board

  (5.1) Subject to subsections (5.2) and (5.3), in addition to the members of the Pension Appeals Board for whom provision is made by subsection (5), any judge or former judge of the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court or of a superior or district court of a province may, on the request of the Chairman of the Board made with the approval of the Governor in Council, act as a temporary member of the Board.

• Marginal note:Consent required

  (5.2) Except in relation to a former judge, no request may be made under subsection (5.1)

  • (a) to a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court, without the consent of the Chief Justice of the Court or of the Attorney General of Canada; or

  • (b) to a judge of a superior or district court of a province, without the consent of the chief justice or chief judge of that court or of the attorney general of the province.

• Marginal note:Approval of requests by Governor in Council

  (5.3) The Governor in Council may approve the making of requests pursuant to subsection (5.1) in general terms or for particular periods or purposes, and may limit the number of persons who may act as temporary members of the Board under that subsection.

• Marginal note:Remuneration of temporary members

  (5.4) Each temporary member of the Board who is a former judge shall be paid such remuneration as may be fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Expenses of temporary members

  (5.5) Each temporary member of the Board is entitled to be paid such travel and living expenses incurred by the member in the performance of duties and functions under this Act as may be fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Hearing of appeal

  (6) An appeal to the Pension Appeals Board shall be heard by either one, three or five members of the Board, whichever number the Chairman of the Board directs, and where the appeal is heard by three or five members of the Board, the decision of the majority is a decision of the Board.

• Marginal note:Presiding member

  (7) Where an appeal is heard by three or five members of the Pension Appeals Board, the Chairman of the Board shall preside if he is one of those members, or, if he is not, he shall designate one of those members to preside.

• Marginal note:Hearings of the Board

  (8) The Pension Appeals Board may hear appeals at any place or places in Canada, and the Chairman of the Board shall arrange for hearings accordingly.

• Marginal note:Powers and duties of Vice-Chairman

  (9) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Chairman of the Pension Appeals Board or if the office of Chairman is vacant, the Vice-Chairman of the Board has, subject to any designation made by the Chairman under subsection (7), all the powers and duties of the Chairman.

• Marginal note:Addition of party to appeal

  (10) Where an appeal is made to the Pension Appeals Board in respect of

  • (a) a survivor’s pension payable to the survivor of a deceased contributor,

  • (b) a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55, 55.1 or 55.2, or

  • (c) an assignment of a contributor’s retirement pension under section 65.1,

  and in the Minister’s opinion a person in addition to the appellant may be directly affected by the decision of the Pension Appeals Board, the Minister shall notify the Board of all such persons, and the Board shall add as a party to the appeal any such person who is not already a party thereto.

• Marginal note:Powers of Pension Appeals Board

  (11) The Pension Appeals Board may confirm or vary a decision of a Review Tribunal under section 82 or subsection 84(2) and may take any action in relation thereto that might have been taken by the Review Tribunal under section 82 or subsection 84(2), and shall thereupon notify in writing the parties to the appeal of its decision and of its reasons therefor.

• (12) [Repealed, 1991, c. 44, s. 22]

Marginal note:Authority to determine questions of law and fact

• 84 (1) A Review Tribunal and the Pension Appeals Board have authority to determine any question of law or fact as to

  • (a) whether any benefit is payable to a person,

  • (b) the amount of any such benefit,

  • (c) whether any person is eligible for a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings,

  • (d) the amount of that division,

  • (e) whether any person is eligible for an assignment of a contributor’s retirement pension, or

  • (f) the amount of that assignment,

  and the decision of a Review Tribunal, except as provided in this Act, or the decision of the Pension Appeals Board, except for judicial review under the Federal Courts Act, as the case may be, is final and binding for all purposes of this Act.

• Marginal note:Rescission or amendment of decision

  (2) The Minister, a Review Tribunal or the Pension Appeals Board may, notwithstanding subsection (1), on new facts, rescind or amend a decision under this Act given by him, the Tribunal or the Board, as the case may be.

Marginal note:Appeals under provincial pension plan

85 Where the legislature of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan has enacted a law under which it is provided that the Pension Appeals Board has jurisdiction to consider and render a decision on an appeal under the provincial pension plan of that province from a determination or decision made under that plan, the Pension Appeals Board shall, in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed regulating the procedure to be followed on any such appeal to it, consider the matter of any such appeal and render a decision thereon, and shall thereupon in prescribed form and manner notify the parties to the appeal of its decision and of its reasons therefor.

Marginal note:Attendance before Pension Appeals Board

• 86 (1) Where on an appeal to the Pension Appeals Board from a decision of a Review Tribunal, an appellant is requested by the Board to attend before it on the hearing of the appeal and so attends, the appellant is entitled to be paid such reasonable travel and living expenses incurred in Canada and compensation for loss of remuneration as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Where appeal successful

  (1.1) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where an appellant is successful, the appellant is entitled to be paid such reasonable travel and living expenses in connection with the hearing of the appeal and compensation for loss of remuneration as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Expenses of respondent and other parties

  (1.2) Where on an appeal to the Pension Appeals Board from a decision of a Review Tribunal, a respondent or other party to the appeal is requested by the Board to attend before it on the hearing of the appeal and so attends, the respondent or other party shall be paid such reasonable travel and living expenses and compensation for loss of remuneration as are fixed by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Legal expenses

  (2) Where

  • (a) on an appeal by the Minister to the Pension Appeals Board from a decision of a Review Tribunal, a person who benefits by the decision from which the Minister is appealing, or a person added as a party pursuant to subsection 83(10), is represented by counsel on the hearing of the appeal, or

  • (b) on an appeal by a person other than the Minister to the Pension Appeals Board from a decision of a Review Tribunal, that person, or a person added as a party pursuant to subsection 83(10), is represented by counsel on the hearing of the appeal and is successful at the appeal,

  that person is entitled to be paid such legal expenses as may be approved by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Where any travel and other allowances, including compensation for loss of remuneration, may be paid to any person under subsection (1) or any legal expenses may be paid to any person under subsection (2), those allowances, including compensation, or those expenses may, in lieu of being paid to that person, be paid, subject to the regulations, to any person acting on his behalf.

Marginal note:Stay of benefits pending judicial review

86.1 Where a decision is made by a Review Tribunal or the Pension Appeals Board in respect of a benefit, the Minister may stay payment of the benefit until the latest of

• (a) the expiration of the period allowed for making an application for leave to appeal to the Pension Appeals Board,

• (b) the expiration of the period allowed for making an application under the Federal Courts Act for judicial review of the decision, and

• (c) where Her Majesty has made an application under the Federal Courts Act for judicial review of the decision, the month in which all proceedings in relation to the judicial review have been completed.

DIVISION GGeneral

Marginal note:Census information

87 Subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, for the purpose of ascertaining the age of any applicant or beneficiary, or of an applicant’s or a beneficiary’s spouse or common-law partner or former spouse or former common-law partner, the Minister is entitled to obtain from Statistics Canada, on request, any information respecting that person’s age that is contained in the returns of any census taken more than thirty years before the date of the request.

Marginal note:Presumption as to death

• 88 (1) Where a contributor or beneficiary, or a contributor’s or beneficiary’s spouse or common-law partner or former spouse or former common-law partner, has, either before or after the coming into force of this section, 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 determine the date for the purposes of this Act 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) If, after having determined the date of a person’s death pursuant to subsection (1), the Minister is satisfied from new information or evidence that the date of death is different from that determined, the Minister may 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 and the Minister shall forthwith cause to be paid any benefit that would have been payable if the determination of death had not been made.

• Marginal note:Where person appears

  (3) If, after having determined the date of a person’s death pursuant to subsection (1), the Minister is satisfied from new information or evidence that the person is alive, the Minister shall forthwith cause to be paid any benefit that would have been payable in respect of the person had that determination not been made.

• Marginal note:Benefits cease

  (4) Where any benefit has been paid to any person as a result of the determination of another person’s death pursuant to this section and the Minister is satisfied from new information or evidence that that other person is alive, the benefit shall forthwith cease to be payable and any such benefit paid prior to the Minister’s being satisfied that the person is alive shall be deemed to have been validly paid.

• Marginal note:Death certificates issued by other authorities

  (5) For the purposes of this section, the Minister is not bound by the issuance or revocation of a death certificate by any other authority.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

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

  • (a) prescribing or defining anything that, by this Part, is to be prescribed or defined by regulations;

  • (b) prescribing the time, manner and form of making applications for benefits, the information and evidence to be furnished in connection therewith and the procedures to be followed in dealing with and approving applications;

  • (b.1) prescribing the time and manner for making requests for reinstatement of a disability pension under section 70.1, and the information and evidence to be furnished in connection with requests;

  • (b.2) prescribing the information and evidence to be furnished in connection with the reinstatement of disabled contributor’s child benefits under section 70.1;

  • (c) regulating the procedure to be followed on appeals to a Review Tribunal or the Pension Appeals Board under this Act, and the procedure to be followed on any appeal to the Pension Appeals Board described in section 85;

  • (d) providing for the making of an application or appeal by and the payment of a benefit to any person or agency on behalf of any other person or beneficiary where it is established in such manner and by such evidence as may be prescribed that the other person or beneficiary is by reason of infirmity, illness, insanity or other causes incapable of managing his own affairs, and prescribing the manner in which any benefit authorized to be paid to any such person or agency on behalf of a beneficiary shall be administered and expended for the benefit of the beneficiary and accounted for;

  • (e) respecting the determination of disability subject to this Part and the conditions on which any amount as or on account of a benefit in respect of the disability of a person shall be paid or shall continue to be paid, including the initial and subsequent periodic or other assessments of that disability and the reasonable rehabilitation measures to be undergone by that person, and providing for the payment out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the cost of any such assessments of disability and rehabilitation measures and for the charging of the amount thereof to the Canada Pension Plan Account as a cost of administration of this Act;

  • (f) providing that the failure of a person to undergo any assessment of disability or reasonable rehabilitation measure as required by any regulation made under paragraph (e), without good cause as defined by regulation, shall be a ground on which that person may be determined to have ceased to be disabled;

  • (g) providing, in the case of any benefit that becomes payable to a person to whom no pension is then payable under the Old Age Security Act, the basic monthly amount of which benefit is less than such amount, not exceeding ten dollars, as may be prescribed, for the commutation of such benefit in such circumstances and in accordance with such methods and bases as may be prescribed and for the payment to that person in the place of that benefit of an amount equal to the commuted value thereof, or for the payment of that benefit at prescribed intervals less frequent than monthly;

  • (h) respecting the payment of any amount on account of a benefit under this Act that remains unpaid at any time after the death of the beneficiary;

  • (i) respecting the terms and conditions governing the payment of benefits in accordance with any agreement under subsection 80(1) that may be entered into by the Minister on behalf of the Government of Canada;

  • (j) providing, in any case or class of cases not covered by the provisions of an agreement under subsection 80(1), for the issue of cheques by the Government of Canada in the amount of any benefit payable under this Act to or in respect of a contributor and in the amount of any like benefit payable under a provincial pension plan to or in respect of the same contributor, or for the payment by other means by the Government of Canada of such an amount, if arrangements satisfactory to the Governor in Council have been made with the government of that province for the issue of cheques, or for the payment by other means, by that government on a reciprocal basis and for the making of any financial adjustments by that government required to be made by reason thereof, and providing for the making of any financial adjustments by the Government of Canada required to be made by reason of those arrangements and for the crediting or charging of the amount thereof to the Canada Pension Plan Account;

  • (k) for the purpose of determining the first month for which the amount of a survivor’s pension shall be reduced or increased as provided under this Act;

  • (l) providing for the conditions under which the payment of benefits may be withheld pending the furnishing of the Minister with information, evidence and documentation required under this Act and the regulations;

  • (l.1) respecting the use of electronic means to create, communicate, make available, collect, receive, store or otherwise deal with a document or information under this Part, including

    • (i) the technology or process, and the format, that must be used,

    • (ii) the place where an electronic document is to be made or sent,

    • (iii) the time and circumstances when an electronic document is considered to be sent or received and the place where it is considered to have been sent or received,

    • (iv) the technology or process to be used to make or verify an electronic signature and the manner in which the signature is to be used, and

    • (v) the circumstances in which an electronic document must be signed with an electronic signature or a secure electronic signature;

  • (l.2) providing that a requirement under a provision of this Part to provide a document or information by non-electronic means is satisfied by the provision of an electronic document if the prescribed conditions, if any, have been complied with; and

  • (m) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part.

• Marginal note:Regulations — payment of interest

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the payment of interest on amounts owing to Her Majesty under this Part, including regulations prescribing

  • (a) the circumstances in which interest is payable;

  • (b) rates of interest or the manner of calculating rates of interest;

  • (c) terms and conditions for the imposition and payment of interest; and

  • (d) terms and conditions under which the Minister may waive, reduce or remit the interest payable.

• Marginal note:Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

  (3) In paragraphs (1)(l.1) and (l.2), “electronic document”, “electronic signature” and “secure electronic signature” have the same meaning as in subsection 31(1) of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Offences

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

• 90 (1) Every person who

  • (a) knowingly makes a false or misleading statement in any application or declaration or makes any application or declaration that by reason of any non-disclosure of facts is false or misleading, or obtains any benefit payment by false pretences,

  • (b) being the payee thereof, negotiates or attempts to negotiate any cheque for a benefit to which he is not entitled, or

  • (c) knowingly fails to return any cheque or the amount of any benefit payment or any excess amount as required by section 66,

  is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (2) Any proceedings under this Act in respect of an offence may be commenced at any time within, but not later than, five years after the Minister becomes aware of the subject-matter of the proceedings.

Penalties

90.1 [Not in force]

Administration and Enforcement

Marginal note:Interpretation

• 90.2 (1) The definitions in this subsection apply in this section.

  document

  document includes moneys, securities, books, records, letters, accounts, statements (financial or otherwise), correspondence, memoranda, film, microform, videotape, photographs, machine-readable records and other documentary material, regardless of form or characteristics, and any copy or printout of any of them. (document)

  dwelling-house

  dwelling-house means the whole or a part of a building or structure that is kept or occupied as a permanent or temporary residence and includes

  • (a) a building within the yard of a dwelling-house that is connected to it by a doorway or by a covered and enclosed passageway; and

  • (b) a unit that is designed to be mobile and to be used as a permanent or temporary residence and that is being used as such a residence. (maison d’habitation)

  judge

  judge means a judge of a superior court having jurisdiction in the province where the matter arises or a judge of the Federal Court. (juge)

• Marginal note:Inspections

  (2) The Minister may, at any reasonable time, for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, examine any document that relates or may relate to the entitlement of a person to a benefit or the amount of a benefit and, for that purpose, the Minister may

  • (a) subject to subsection (3), enter any premises or place where the Minister believes that a document relating to the entitlement of a person to a benefit or the amount of a benefit is or should be kept; and

  • (b) require the owner, occupant or person in charge of the premises or place to give the Minister all reasonable assistance and to answer all proper questions relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act and, for that purpose, require the owner, occupant or person in charge of the premises or place to attend at those premises or that place with the Minister.

• Marginal note:Warrant required to enter dwelling-house

  (3) Where the premises or place referred to in subsection (2) is a dwelling-house, the Minister may not enter that dwelling-house without the consent of the occupant except under the authority of a warrant issued under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Warrant

  (4) On ex parte application by the Minister, a judge may issue a warrant authorizing the Minister to enter a dwelling-house subject to the conditions that may be specified in the warrant, if the judge is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) there are reasonable grounds to believe that the dwelling-house is a premises or place referred to in subsection (2);

  • (b) entry into the dwelling-house is necessary for a purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act; and

  • (c) entry into the dwelling-house has been refused or that there are reasonable grounds to believe that entry will be refused.

• Marginal note:Other access to document

  (5) Where the judge is not satisfied that entry into that dwelling-house is necessary for a purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act but is satisfied that access to a document that is or should be kept in the dwelling-house has been or may be expected to be refused, the judge may

  • (a) order the occupant of the dwelling-house to provide the Minister with reasonable access to the document; and

  • (b) make any other order that is appropriate in the circumstances to carry out the purposes of this Act.

• Marginal note:Requirement to provide documents or information

  (6) Despite any other provision of this Act, the Minister may, subject to subsection (7), for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, by notice served personally or by confirmed delivery service, require that any person provide, within the reasonable time that is stipulated in the notice, any information or additional information or any document.

• Marginal note:Unnamed persons

  (7) The Minister shall not impose on a person, in this section referred to as a “third party”, a requirement under subsection (6) to provide information or a document relating to one or more unnamed persons unless the Minister first obtains the authorization of a judge under subsection (8).

• Marginal note:Judicial authorization

  (8) On ex parte application by the Minister, a judge may, subject to the conditions that the judge considers appropriate, authorize the Minister to impose on a third party a requirement under subsection (6) relating to one or more unnamed persons, in this section referred to as the “group”, where the judge is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the person or group is ascertainable; and

  • (b) the requirement is made to verify compliance by the person or persons in the group with a duty or obligation under this Act.

• Marginal note:Service of authorization

  (9) Where an authorization is granted under subsection (8), the authorization shall be served together with the notice referred to in subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Review of authorization

  (10) Where an authorization is granted under subsection (8), a third party on whom a notice is served under subsection (6) may, not later than 15 days after the service of the notice, apply to the judge who granted the authorization or, if that judge is unable to act, to another judge of the same court for a review of the authorization.

• Marginal note:Powers on review

  (11) On hearing an application under subsection (10), a judge may cancel the authorization previously granted if the judge is not then satisfied that the conditions in paragraphs (8)(a) to (d) have been met, and the judge may confirm or vary the authorization if the judge is satisfied that those conditions have been met.

• Marginal note:Copies as evidence

  (12) Where a document is inspected, examined or provided in accordance with this section, the person by whom it is inspected or examined or to whom it is provided may make, or cause to be made, one or more certified copies of it and any such copy is evidence of the nature and content of the original document and has the same probative force as the original document would have if it were proven in the ordinary way.

• Marginal note:Compliance

  (13) No person shall interfere with any person doing anything that the person is authorized under this section to do or prevent or attempt to prevent any person from doing any such thing.

PART IIIAdministration

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

91 The following definitions apply in this Part.

Investment Board

Office

Investment Board means the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board established by section 3 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act. (Office)

Minister

ministre

Minister means the Minister of Social Development. (ministre)

General

Marginal note:Administration of Act

• 92 (1) The Minister has the control and direction of the administration of this Act other than Part I.

• Marginal note:Duties of Minister of National Revenue

  (2) The Minister of National Revenue has the control and direction of the administration of Part I and shall from time to time each year report to the Minister

  • (a) such information obtained under this Act with respect to the earnings and contributions of any contributor as is required by the Minister to permit the calculation of the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings to be shown to the account of the contributor in the Record of Earnings established under section 95, and to identify in the Record of Earnings the unadjusted pensionable earnings of contributors, according to information contained in returns made pursuant to Part I;

  • (b) such information obtained with respect to the earnings of any person as is required by the Minister to permit the determination of the amount of any benefit that may be payable under this Act to or in respect of that person or of the amount of any benefit that may be payable to or in respect of that person by reason of which any financial adjustment may be required to be made pursuant to any agreement entered into under subsection 80(1); and

  • (c) such statistical and other general information as is necessary for the administration of this Act including the conduct of actuarial and other studies relating to the operation of this Act.

Marginal note:Duty of Minister of Public Works and Government Services

93 The Minister of Public Works and Government Services shall furnish the Minister with such assistance in the administration of this Act as the Governor in Council may direct.

Marginal note:Duty of Canada Employment Insurance Commission

94 The Canada Employment Insurance Commission shall furnish the Minister and the Minister of National Revenue with such assistance in the administration of this Act as the Governor in Council may direct.

Records and Information

Marginal note:Record of Earnings

95 The Minister shall cause to be established such records, to be known as the Record of Earnings, of information obtained under this Act with respect to the earnings and contributions of contributors, including information obtained pursuant to any agreement entered into under section 105 with respect to those earnings and contributions, as are necessary to permit

• (a) the determination of the amount of any benefit that may be payable under this Act to or in respect of any contributor;

• (b) the calculation of the amount of any financial adjustment that may be required to be made pursuant to any agreement entered into under subsection 80(1); and

• (c) the identification of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of contributors, according to information contained in returns made pursuant to Part I.

Marginal note:Application for statement of earnings and request for reconsideration

• 96 (1) Subject to the provisions of any agreement entered into under section 105, every contributor may require the Minister, by application made in the prescribed manner, to furnish or make available to the contributor a statement of the unadjusted pensionable earnings shown to the contributor’s account in the Record of Earnings, and if a contributor is not satisfied with the statement, they may request that it be reconsidered by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Application of sections 81 to 84

  (2) Sections 81 to 84 apply with such modifications as the circumstances require to any request made under subsection (1) as though it were an application for a benefit.

• (3) [Repealed, 1995, c. 33, s. 40]

Marginal note:Entry in record of earnings presumed to be accurate

• 97 (1) Notwithstanding section 96, except as provided in this section, any entry in the Record of Earnings relating to the earnings or a contribution of a contributor shall be conclusively presumed to be accurate and may not be called into question after four years have elapsed from the end of the year in which the entry was made.

• Marginal note:Rectification of Record in certain cases

  (2) If

  • (a) from information furnished by or obtained from the records of an employer or a former employer, or an employee or a former employee of an employer, or a person required to make a contribution in respect of this self-employed earnings, after the time specified in subsection (1), or

  • (b) for any other reason,

  it appears to the Minister that the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings shown in the Record of Earnings to the account of an employee or former employee of that employer or to the account of that person is less than the amount that should be so shown in that Record, the Minister may cause the Record of Earnings to be rectified in order to show the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the contributor that should be so shown therein.

• Marginal note:Removal of entry

  (2.1) If, from information furnished pursuant to an agreement referred to in paragraph 105(1)(a), it appears to the Minister that an amount that is shown in the Record of Earnings to the account of a person as being a contribution under this Act relates instead to a contribution under the provincial pension plan of that province, the Minister may, at any time after that information is furnished, authorize the removal of that entry from the Record of Earnings.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Where the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor shown to his account in the Record of Earnings is increased pursuant to subsection (2) and it appears to the Minister that the earnings and contributions with respect to which that amount is so increased have been incorrectly shown in the Record to the account of another contributor, the Minister may cause the Record of Earnings to be rectified by reducing the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings shown in the Record to the account of that other contributor by such part of that amount as has been incorrectly so shown therein.

• Marginal note:Notice of rectification to be given

  (4) Whenever any reduction is made in the amount of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor shown to his account in the Record of Earnings, whether pursuant to subsection (3) or otherwise, and it appears from the Record of Earnings that prior to the making of the reduction the contributor had been informed under section 96 of the amount of the earnings shown to his account in the Record of Earnings, the Minister shall notify the contributor in prescribed manner of his action and if the contributor is not satisfied with the amount of the reduction so made, he may request that such action be reconsidered by the Minister and sections 81 to 84 apply with such modifications as the circumstances require to that request as though it were an application for a benefit.

Marginal note:Application for assignment of Social Insurance Number

• 98 (1) Every individual who applies for a division under section 55 or 55.1 shall, within thirty days of the date of application for such division, if he has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number, file an application with the Minister, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, for the assignment to him of a Social Insurance Number.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every individual who reaches eighteen years of age and is or becomes employed in pensionable employment on or after reaching that age shall, within thirty days after he reaches eighteen years of age or becomes employed in pensionable employment, as the case may be, if he has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number, file an application with the Minister, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, for the assignment to him of a Social Insurance Number.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Every individual who is required by section 30 to file a return of his self-employed earnings for a year, other than an individual to whom subsection (1) or (2) applies, shall on or before the first day on or before which he is required by section 33 to pay any amount as or on account of the contribution required to be made by him for that year in respect of those earnings, if he has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number, apply to the Minister, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, for the assignment to him of a Social Insurance Number.

• Marginal note:Assignment of Number and issue of Card

  (4) The Minister shall, on application by an individual to whom a Social Insurance Number has not earlier been assigned, cause a Social Insurance Number to be assigned to him and a Social Insurance Number Card issued to him.

• Marginal note:Employer to maintain record of Social Insurance Number

  (5) Every employer who employs an employee in pensionable employment shall, in the case of an employee to whom subsection (2) applies, within thirty days after the employee reaches eighteen years of age or becomes employed in pensionable employment, whichever is the later, require the employee to produce to him his Social Insurance Number Card and shall maintain a record of the Social Insurance Number of each employee.

• Marginal note:Employee to produce Number Card

  (6) Every employee who is required by subsection (5) to produce his Social Insurance Number Card to his employer shall produce that Card to his employer within thirty days after being required to produce it.

Marginal note:Application to be signed by applicant

• 99 (1) An application for a Social Insurance Number shall be signed by the applicant in his own hand but where the applicant is unable to sign his own name, he may attest the application by making his mark in the presence of two witnesses whose names and signatures shall be shown thereon.

• Marginal note:Change of name

  (2) Where at any time an individual to whom a Social Insurance Number Card has been issued changes his name, by reason of marriage or otherwise,

  • (a) if at that time he is employed in pensionable employment, he shall, within sixty days after changing his name, or

  • (b) if at that time he is not employed in pensionable employment but thereafter becomes so employed or is required to make a contribution under this Act in respect of his self-employed earnings, he shall, within sixty days after becoming so employed or after the first day on or before which he is requested by section 33 to pay any amount as or on account of the contribution required to be made by him in respect of those earnings, as the case may be,

  apply to the Minister for the issue to him of a new Social Insurance Number Card in his new name, unless he has already made an application to another authority empowered to receive the application.

Marginal note:Agreement respecting assignment of Social Insurance Numbers

• 100 (1) The Minister may, on behalf of the Government of Canada, enter into an agreement with the government of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan under which the Minister may cause Social Insurance Numbers to be assigned to persons to whom Social Insurance Numbers have not earlier been assigned, on the basis of applications made by those persons to the appropriate authority in that province.

• Marginal note:Numbers deemed to have been assigned under Act

  (2) Any Social Insurance Numbers caused to be assigned by the Minister under any agreement entered into under subsection (1) shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have been assigned under this Act.

Marginal note:Regulations

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

  • (a) requiring employers to distribute to their employees applications and other material relating to applications for Social Insurance Numbers;

  • (b) prescribing districts for purposes of assigning Social Insurance Numbers, in which persons who reside therein may file their applications for Social Insurance Numbers and, having regard to the public convenience, the place or places within each district at which those persons may apply;

  • (c) prescribing the conditions on which and manner in which Social Insurance Number Cards that have been lost or destroyed may be replaced;

  • (d) authorizing the Minister and the Minister of National Revenue to cause a Social Insurance Number to be assigned and a Social Insurance Number Card to be issued to any individual who has not earlier been assigned a Social Insurance Number;

  • (d.1) prescribing or defining anything that, by this Part, is to be prescribed or defined;

  • (d.2) respecting the use of electronic means to create, communicate, make available, collect, receive, store or otherwise deal with a document or information under this Part, including

    • (i) the technology or process, and the format, that must be used,

    • (ii) the place where an electronic document is to be made or sent,

    • (iii) the time and circumstances when an electronic document is considered to be sent or received and the place where it is considered to have been sent or received,

    • (iv) the technology or process to be used to make or verify an electronic signature and the manner in which the signature is to be used, and

    • (v) the circumstances in which an electronic document must be signed with an electronic signature or a secure electronic signature;

  • (d.3) providing that a requirement under a provision of this Part to provide a document or information by non-electronic means is satisfied by the provision of an electronic document if the prescribed conditions, if any, have been complied with; and

  • (e) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part.

• Marginal note:Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

  (2) In paragraphs (1)(d.2) and (d.3), “electronic document”, “electronic signature” and “secure electronic signature” have the same meaning as in subsection 31(1) of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Marginal note:Offence and punishment

• 102 (1) Every person who, in his application for a Social Insurance Number, knowingly furnishes any false or misleading information is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every person who has been assigned a Social Insurance Number and who knowingly makes application again to be assigned a Social Insurance Number, whether giving the same or different information in that application as in his previous application, and whether or not he is assigned a Social Insurance Number again, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Every employer who fails to comply with subsection 98(5) or any regulation made under paragraph 101(1)(a) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

Marginal note:Limitation period

• 103 (1) A prosecution for an offence under this Act may be commenced at any time within, but not later than, five years after the time when the subject-matter of the prosecution arose.

• Marginal note:Officers, etc., of corporations

  (2) Where a corporation commits an offence under this Act, every officer, director or agent of the corporation who directed, authorized, assented to, acquiesced in or participated in the commission of the offence is a party to and guilty of the offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence whether or not the corporation has been prosecuted or convicted.

• Marginal note:Information or complaint

  (3) Subsection 41(6) applies with respect to an information or complaint under any of the provisions of this Act other than Part I, as though for the reference therein to the Canada Revenue Agency and the Minister thereof there were substituted a reference to the Department of Social Development and the Minister.

Protection of Personal Information

Marginal note:Definitions

• 104 (1) The definitions in this subsection apply in this section and sections 104.01 to 105.

  administration

  mise en oeuvre

  administration includes the development, operation, evaluation and enforcement of policies and programs. (mise en oeuvre)

  federal institution

  institution fédérale

  federal institution means a department or any other body referred to in Schedule I, I.1, II or III to the Financial Administration Act. (institution fédérale)

  public officer

  fonctionnaire public

  public officer means an officer or employee of a federal institution, or a prescribed individual or a member of a prescribed class of individuals. (fonctionnaire public)

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (2) The definition of a word or expression in subsection (1) does not affect its interpretation in any other provision of this Act.

• Marginal note:Purpose

  (3) This section and sections 104.01 to 104.09, 104.101, 104.102 and 105 set out the rules that apply to the protection and the making available of information with respect to an individual that was obtained under this Act or prepared under this Act from that information.

Marginal note:Protection of information

• 104.01 (1) Information with respect to an individual is privileged and shall not be made available except as authorized by this Act.

• Marginal note:Availability of information on request of an individual

  (2) In addition to an individual’s right of access under section 12 of the Privacy Act, and subject to the exemptions and exclusions provided in that Act, information with respect to an individual may, on request in writing to the Minister by the individual or their representative, be made available to that individual or representative or, on the conditions that may be prescribed, to any person or body named in the request.

• Marginal note:Availability of information to the individual and other persons

  (3) Subject to the exemptions and exclusions provided in the Privacy Act, if information is relevant to the making of an application or the receipt of a benefit by, or the division of unadjusted pensionable earnings or assignment of a retirement pension that affects, an individual under this Act, it may be made available to

  • (a) the individual;

  • (b) the individual’s representative;

  • (c) a member of Parliament inquiring on behalf of the individual; or

  • (d) on the conditions that may be prescribed, any other individual authorized in writing by the individual.

• Marginal note:Availability of information for proceedings

  (4) Information may be made available for the purpose of civil or criminal proceedings relating to the administration of this Act, including appeals under this Act.

Marginal note:Availability of information within certain departments

104.02 Information may be made available to the Minister or a public officer of the Department of Social Development or the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, or a commissioner of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, for the purpose of the administration of a federal or provincial law or activity.

Marginal note:Availability of information within federal institutions

• 104.03 (1) Information may be made available to other ministers or public officers for the purpose of the administration of this Act.

• Marginal note:Availability of information within federal institutions

  (2) Information may be made available to the minister responsible for, and to any public officer of,

  • (a) the Canada Revenue Agency, if the information is necessary for the purpose of the administration of the Income Tax Act;

  • (b) the Department of Veterans Affairs, if the information is necessary for the purpose of the administration of any Act of Parliament that is administered by the Minister of Veterans Affairs; and

  • (c) the Correctional Service of Canada, if the information is necessary for the purpose of the administration of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.

• Marginal note:Other federal institutions

  (2.1) Information may also be made available to a minister or a public officer of a prescribed federal institution for the administration of a prescribed federal or provincial law or activity if the Minister considers it advisable and the information is made available subject to the conditions set out in an agreement between the Minister and the federal institution.

• Marginal note:Availability of information within federal institutions

  (3) Notwithstanding any other Act or law, any information obtained by a public officer of the Canada Revenue Agency, the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Works and Government Services or the Department of Citizenship and Immigration for the purpose of the administration of this Act may be made available or allowed to be made available by that person to a public officer of the Department of Social Development, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Works and Government Services, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration or the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for the purpose of the administration of this Act.

• Marginal note:Secondary release of information

  (4) Information obtained under this section shall not be made available to any other person or body unless the information is made available only for the same purpose and on any conditions that the Minister may set out.

Marginal note:Exception re war crimes

• 104.04 (1) Information may be made available to the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada for the purpose of investigations, prosecutions and extradition activities in Canada in relation to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

• Marginal note:Secondary release of information

  (2) Information obtained under subsection (1) shall not be made available to any other person or body unless the information is made available for the same purpose.

Marginal note:Availability of information to provincial authorities

• 104.05 (1) Information may be made available to the government of a province, or to a public body created under the law of a province, for the purpose of the administration of a federal law or activity or a provincial law if the Minister considers it advisable and the information is made available on the conditions set out in an agreement between the Minister and the government or body.

• Marginal note:Secondary release of information

  (2) Information obtained by a government or public body under subsection (1) or pursuant to an agreement made under section 105 shall not be made available to any other person or body unless the Minister considers it advisable and the information is made available only for the same purpose and on the conditions set out in an agreement between the Minister and the government or public body.

Marginal note:Availability of information to certain persons or bodies

• 104.06 (1) Information may be made available to any person or body to whom any of sections 104.01 to 104.05 do not apply, for the purpose of the administration of a federal law or activity or a provincial law, if the Minister considers it advisable and the information is made available on the conditions set out in an agreement between the Minister and the person or body.

• Marginal note:Secondary release of information

  (2) Information obtained by a person or body under subsection (1) shall not be made available to any other person or body unless the Minister considers it advisable and the information is made available only for the same purpose and on the conditions set out in an agreement between the Minister and the person or body that obtained the information.

• (3) [Repealed, 2005, c. 35, s. 50]

Marginal note:Where Minister may permit information to be made available

• 104.07 (1) Despite sections 104.01 to 104.06, information may be made available if, in the Minister’s opinion, the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure or that permitting the information to be made available would clearly benefit the individual to whom the information relates.

• Marginal note:Notice of disclosure

  (2) The Minister shall, in writing, notify the Privacy Commissioner appointed under section 53 of the Privacy Act of any disclosure of personal information under subsection (1) before the disclosure if reasonably practicable or, in any other case, without delay on the disclosure, and the Privacy Commissioner may, if the Commissioner deems it appropriate, notify the individual to whom the information relates of the disclosure.

Marginal note:Evidence and production of documents

104.08 Despite any other Act or law, the Minister and public officers shall not be required, in connection with any legal proceedings, to give evidence relating to information that is privileged under subsection 104.01(1) or to produce a statement or other writing that contains any such privileged information unless the Minister considers that it is appropriate to do so.

Marginal note:Offence

• 104.09 (1) Every person or body commits an offence who knowingly makes available information that is privileged under this Act, or who knowingly uses or allows such information to be used, otherwise than in accordance with this Act, any condition referred to in section 104.01, 104.03, 104.05, 104.06 or 104.101 or an agreement referred to in section 104.05, 104.06, 104.101 or 105.

• Marginal note:Punishment — individuals

  (2) An individual who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both.

• Marginal note:Punishment — others

  (3) A body or a person, other than an individual, who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $100,000.

Marginal note:Agreements authorizing the obtention of information

104.1 The Minister may enter into agreements with federal institutions, governments of provinces or public bodies created under provincial law and other persons or bodies to obtain information for the purposes of the administration of this Act.

Marginal note:Research or statistical purposes

104.101 Information may be made available for research or statistical purposes to any person or body, including one referred to in any of sections 104.03 to 104.06 or 105, if

• (a) the Minister is of the opinion that the research or statistical purposes are consistent with the principles set out in paragraphs 104.102(1)(a) to (e);

• (b) the Minister is of the opinion that the purpose for which the information is made available cannot reasonably be accomplished unless the information is provided in a form that may identify the individual to whom it relates; and

• (c) the information is made available subject to conditions set out in an agreement between the Minister and the person or body, and the person or body undertakes in the agreement not to subsequently disclose the information in a form that could reasonably be expected to identify the individual to whom it relates.

Marginal note:Use of information for research purposes

• 104.102 (1) The use of information by the Minister and by public officers of the Department of Social Development for policy analysis, research or evaluation purposes shall be guided by the following principles:

  • (a) the object of the policy analysis, research or evaluation is consistent with the powers, duties and functions of the Minister under the Department of Social Development Act;

  • (b) the use of the information is consistent with any agreement under which the information was obtained;

  • (c) the results of the policy analysis, research or evaluation will be made available only in accordance with sections 104 to 104.08, 104.101 and 105 and any agreements under which the information was obtained;

  • (d) the policy analysis, research or evaluation would be difficult or impossible if the information were not used; and

  • (e) the policy analysis, research or evaluation is in the public interest.

• Marginal note:Use

  (2) Unless authorized by the Minister, a public officer shall not use information for the purpose of policy analysis, research or evaluation if the information would allow an individual to be identified.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (3) Information that is used for policy analysis, research or evaluation purposes shall not be used for any administrative purpose as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act.

Marginal note:Information obtained relative to Social Insurance Numbers

104.11 Despite any other Act or law, if Social Insurance Numbers have been assigned under the authority of any other Act, the minister or other authority charged with the administration of that Act and the Minister may exchange any information contained in applications for those numbers and any numbers so assigned, and may make available any such information or numbers in any manner that may be authorized by that Act.

Marginal note:Agreement with province for exchange of records and furnishing of information

105 The Minister may, on behalf of the Government of Canada, enter into an agreement with the government of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan

• (a) under which any information obtained under this Act, including records of any amounts that are shown in the Record of Earnings to the accounts of individuals who have made contributions under this Act and under the provincial pension plan of that province and that relate to the contributions made by those individuals under this Act, may be made available under prescribed conditions to the appropriate authority of that province having the administration of the provincial pension plan, and under which any information obtained under the provincial pension plan may be made available on a reciprocal basis to the Minister; and

• (b) under which the Minister or the appropriate authority of that province, in accordance with any terms and conditions that may be specified in the agreement, may make available to any individual who has made contributions under this Act and under the provincial pension plan a statement of any amounts shown in the Record of Earnings or the appropriate records established under the provincial pension plan, as the case may be, to the account of that individual, and may act on or give effect to any request made by that individual for reconsideration by the Minister or the appropriate authority, as the case may be, of any statement made available to the individual.

Marginal note:Commissioners for oaths

• 106 (1) A person who

  • (a) is employed in the administration or enforcement of Part I or any regulations made thereunder and is authorized by the Minister of National Revenue for the purpose, or

  • (b) is employed in the administration or enforcement of this Part and Part II or any regulations made thereunder and is authorized by the Minister for the purpose,

  may, in the course of their employment and subject to any other Act of Parliament or any Act of the legislature of a province, administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and solemn affirmations and every person so authorized has, with respect to any such oath, affidavit, declaration or solemn affirmation, all the powers of a commissioner for taking affidavits.

• Marginal note:Acceptance of oaths, etc.

  (2) For the purposes of the administration of

  • (a) Part I or any regulations made under that Part, any person described in paragraph (1)(a), or

  • (b) this Part or Part II or any regulations made under either of those Parts, any person described in paragraph (1)(b)

  may accept any oath administered or affidavit, declaration or solemn affirmation given by any officer or employee of any department in, or other portion of, the federal public administration specified in Schedule I, IV or V to the Financial Administration Act or of any department of the government of a province who has all the powers of a commissioner for taking affidavits.

Reciprocal Agreements with Other Countries

Marginal note:Reciprocal arrangements re administration, etc.

• 107 (1) Where, under any law of a country other than Canada, provision is made for the payment of old age or other benefits including survivors’ or disability benefits, the Minister may, on behalf of the Government of Canada, on such terms and conditions as may be approved by the Governor in Council, enter into an agreement with the government of that country for the making of reciprocal arrangements relating to the administration or operation of that law and of this Act, including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, arrangements relating to

  • (a) the exchange of such information obtained under that law or this Act as may be necessary to give effect to any such arrangements,

  • (b) the administration of benefits payable under this Act to persons resident in that country, the extension of benefits to and in respect of persons under that law or this Act and the increase or decrease in the amount of the benefits payable under that law or this Act to and in respect of persons employed in or resident in that country, and

  • (c) the administration of benefits payable under that law to persons resident in Canada, the extension of benefits to and in respect of persons under that law or this Act and the increase or decrease in the amount of the benefits payable under that law or this Act to and in respect of persons employed in or resident in Canada,

  and, subject to subsection (4), any such agreement may extend to and include similar arrangements with respect to any provincial pension plan.

• (2) [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 54]

• Marginal note:Regulations for giving effect to agreements

  (3) For the purpose of giving effect to any agreement entered into under subsection (1), the Governor in Council may make such regulations respecting the manner in which this Act shall apply to any case or class of cases affected by the agreement, and for adapting this Act thereto, as appear to the Governor in Council to be necessary for that purpose, and any regulations so made may provide therein for the making of any financial adjustments required under the agreement and for the crediting or charging of the amount of any of those adjustments to the Canada Pension Plan Account.

• Marginal note:Agreements with respect to provincial pension plan

  (4) Where the government of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan requests the Government of Canada to enter into an agreement under this section with the government of a country under any law of which provision is made for the payment of old age or other benefits including survivors’ or disability benefits, the Minister, with the approval of the Governor in Council, may enter into an agreement with the government of that country for the making of reciprocal arrangements relating to any of the matters referred to in subsection (1) with respect to the provincial pension plan of that province, if that plan makes provision for entering into such an agreement and for the carrying out of the provisions thereof, including the making of any financial adjustment required to be made for that purpose and the crediting or charging of the amount of any such adjustment to the appropriate account or accounts established under that plan.

Financial Provisions

Marginal note:Donations

107.1 The Minister may acquire money, securities or other property by gift, bequest or otherwise and shall dispose of such securities or other property subject to the terms, if any, on which such money, securities or other property is given, bequeathed or otherwise made available to the Minister.

Marginal note:Canada Pension Plan Account

• 108 (1) There is hereby established in the accounts of Canada an account to be known as the Canada Pension Plan Account.

• Marginal note:Amounts to be credited to Account

  (2) There shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund and credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account

  • (a) all amounts received under this Act as or on account of contributions or otherwise;

  • (b) all amounts required to be credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account pursuant to any agreement entered into under subsection 39(1) or 80(1) or pursuant to any regulation made under paragraph 89(1)(j) or subsection 107(3);

  • (c) all interest on securities purchased by the Minister of Finance under section 110 and all interest credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account under that section;

  • (d) any amount of money received under section 107.1 and any proceeds from the disposition of any securities or other property received under that section;

  • (e) all amounts charged for the use of resources that are associated with the administration of this Act;

  • (f) any interest or administrative charge collected in relation to money payable under this Act; and

  • (g) all amounts received pursuant to section 56 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act.

• Marginal note:Costs of appeals related to Old Age Security Act

  (2.1) There shall be credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account an amount held in the Consolidated Revenue Fund representing the costs of the administration of appeals to the Review Tribunal referred to in subsection 28(1) of the Old Age Security Act.

• Marginal note:Amounts to be charged to Account

  (3) There shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and charged to the Canada Pension Plan Account

  • (a) all amounts payable under this Act as or on account of benefits or otherwise;

  • (b) all amounts required to be charged to the Canada Pension Plan Account pursuant to any agreement entered into under subsection 39(1) or 80(1) or pursuant to any regulation made under paragraph 89(1)(j) or subsection 107(3);

  • (b.1) all amounts credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account pursuant to paragraph (2)(e);

  • (c) the costs of administration of this Act, under the authority of Parliament; and

  • (d) all amounts required to be charged to the Canada Pension Plan Account pursuant to section 57 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (4) No payment shall be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund under this section in excess of the total of

  • (a) the amount of the balance to the credit of the Canada Pension Plan Account, and

  • (b) the fair market value of the assets of the Investment Board less its liabilities.

Marginal note:Management of Account

• 108.1 (1) Any amounts standing to the credit of the Canada Pension Plan Account that exceed the immediate obligations of that Account shall be transferred to the Investment Board, unless any agreement entered into under section 111.1 provides otherwise. The amounts shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and charged to the Canada Pension Plan Account.

• Marginal note:Payment by Investment Board

  (2) The Minister may, by notice, and in accordance with any agreement entered into under section 111.1, require the Investment Board to pay into the Consolidated Revenue Fund any amount necessary to offset amounts charged or required to be charged to the Canada Pension Plan Account under subsection 108(3) and any interest charged under subsection 110(2).

• Marginal note:Interest

  (3) The Minister of Finance shall credit interest to the Canada Pension Plan Account at market rates, as determined by that Minister, on any amount standing to the credit of that Account. The interest shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

109 [Repealed, 2003, c. 5, s. 4]

• 110 (1) [Repealed, 2003, c. 5, s. 5]

• Marginal note:Interest shall be charged to Account

  (2) The Minister of Finance shall charge interest to the Canada Pension Plan Account at market rates, as determined by that Minister, on any amount paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund under subsection 108(3) that exceeds the balance to the credit of the Canada Pension Plan Account. Interest shall be charged for the period beginning on the day on which the amount is paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund under subsection 108(3) and ending on the day on which the Investment Board pays that amount into the Consolidated Revenue Fund under section 56 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act.

• (2.1) to (8)  [Repealed, 2003, c. 5, s. 5]

111 [Repealed, 2003, c. 5, s. 6]

Marginal note:Administration agreement

• 111.1 (1) The Minister of Finance may, on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Minister, enter into an agreement with the Investment Board with respect to the administration of any matter referred to in sections 107.1 to 110, including the payment of amounts out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the Investment Board, and the payment of amounts by the Investment Board into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

• Marginal note:Administration agreement

  (2) The Minister of Finance may enter into an agreement with the Investment Board with respect to the administration of any matter referred to in section 113.

Marginal note:Annual financial statements

• 112 (1) The Minister shall, as soon as possible after the end of each fiscal year, prepare annual financial statements for the Canada Pension Plan in respect of that year setting out

  • (a) a statement of the amounts credited to or charged to the Canada Pension Plan Account during the year;

  • (b) a statement consolidating the accounts of the Canada Pension Plan Account and the Investment Board for the year; and

  • (c) any other accounts and information that the Minister considers appropriate to present fairly the financial transactions and the financial position of the Canada Pension Plan for the year.

• Marginal note:Reliance

  (2) In preparing the annual financial statements, the Minister may rely on the annual financial statements prepared under subsection 39(4) of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act.

• Marginal note:Audit

  (3) The annual financial statements of the Canada Pension Plan shall be audited annually by the Auditor General of Canada and a report of the audit shall be made to the Minister.

• Marginal note:Duty to provide information

  (4) The Investment Board and its auditor shall provide the Auditor General of Canada with any records, accounts, statements or other information that in the opinion of the Auditor General of Canada are necessary to audit the annual financial statements of the Canada Pension Plan.

Marginal note:Effect of regulation made under subsection 3(2)

• 113 (1) Where any regulation has been made under subsection 3(2) prescribing a province as a province described in paragraph (b) of the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan in subsection 3(1),

  • (a) all obligations and liabilities accrued or accruing as described in that paragraph, for the assumption of which under the provincial pension plan of that province provision has been made by any law of that province, shall, from and after the day on which the regulation became effective, cease to be obligations or liabilities accrued or accruing with respect to the payment of benefits under this Act attributable to contributions made under this Act in respect of employment in that province or in respect of self-employed earnings of persons resident in that province; and

  • (b) the Minister of Finance shall pay an amount calculated as provided in subsection (2) to the government of that province, by the transfer to that government in the first instance and to the extent necessary for that purpose, of securities of that province that are designated securities as defined in section 2 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act, and in the second instance and to the extent necessary for that purpose, of securities of Canada that are designated securities as defined in section 2 of that Act, and by the payment to that government of any balance then remaining in any manner that may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Transfer by Investment Board

  (1.1) The Minister of Finance may, by notice, and in accordance with any agreement entered into under section 111.1, require the Investment Board to pay to that Minister any amount, and to transfer to that Minister any securities of the province or of Canada referred to in paragraph (1)(b), that are necessary for the purposes of subsection (1).

• (1.2) [Repealed, 2003, c. 5, s. 9]

• Marginal note:Amount to be paid to government of province

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the amount to be calculated as provided in this subsection in the case of any province shall be calculated by the Minister of Finance as the amount obtained by adding

  • (a) the total amount of all contributions credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account, to the day on which the regulation referred to in subsection (1) became effective, in respect of employment in that province or in respect of self-employed earnings of persons resident in that province, and

  • (b) the part of

    • (i) the net investment return of the Investment Board, and

    • (ii) all interest credited to or accrued to the credit of the Canada Pension Plan Account,

    to the day on which the regulation referred to in subsection (1) became effective, that is derived from the contributions referred to in paragraph (a),

  and subtracting from the total so obtained

  • (c) such part of all amounts paid as or on account of benefits under this Act as would not have been payable under this Act if that province had been a province described in paragraph (a) of the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan in subsection 3(1), and

  • (d) such part of the costs of administration of this Act, to the day on which the regulation referred to in subsection (1) became effective, as is equal to the proportion of those costs that the total amount of the contributions referred to in paragraph (a) is of the total amount of all contributions credited to the Canada Pension Plan Account to that day.

• Marginal note:Agreement respecting assumption of obligations and liabilities

  (3) Where notice in writing has been given to the Minister by the government of a province as described in the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan in subsection 3(1), the Minister, with the approval of the Governor in Council, may on behalf of the Government of Canada enter into an agreement with the government of that province,

  • (a) for the furnishing of that government under prescribed conditions with any information obtained under this Act, including records of any amounts that are shown in the Record of Earnings to the accounts of persons who have made contributions under this Act in respect of employment in that province or as persons resident in that province in respect of self-employed earnings; and

  • (b) generally for the making of all such arrangements as may be necessary to permit provision to be made for the assumption, under the provincial pension plan referred to in the notice, of all obligations and liabilities accrued or accruing as described in paragraph (b) of the definition province providing a comprehensive pension plan in subsection 3(1).

Financial Review of the Canada Pension Plan

Marginal note:Review every three years

• 113.1 (1) Once every three years after 1997, the Minister of Finance and ministers of the Crown from the included provinces shall review the financial state of the Canada Pension Plan and may make recommendations as to whether benefits or contribution rates or both should be changed.

• (2) [Repealed, 1997, c. 40, s. 94]

• Marginal note:Completion of review

  (3) If possible, the review in each three year period must be completed in time to permit the Minister of Finance to make recommendations to the Governor in Council before the end of the second year of the three year period.

• Marginal note:Factors to be considered

  (4) In conducting any review required by this section and in making any recommendations, ministers shall consider

  • (a) the most recent report prepared by the Chief Actuary pursuant to section 115 and any changes between that report and earlier reports prepared by the Chief Actuary;

  • (b) any more recent estimates of the Chief Actuary in respect of

    • (i) the outstanding balance of the Canada Pension Plan Account,

    • (ii) the projected revenues into and payments out of the Canada Pension Plan Account,

    • (iii) the ratio of the projected assets of the Canada Pension Plan over the projected expenditures of the Canada Pension Plan, and

    • (iv) the changes, if any, to the amounts and ratio projected at the previous review under this section attributable to changing demographic and economic circumstances or to changes to the Canada Pension Plan affecting payments or contributions thereunder;

  • (c) the financing objective of having a contribution rate, without taking into account the changes referred to in paragraph (d) for which the contribution rate most recently calculated under subparagraph 115(1.1)(c)(ii) exceeds zero, that is no lower than the rate

    • (i) that, beginning with the year 2003, is the lowest constant rate that can be maintained over the foreseeable future, and

    • (ii) that results in the ratio of the projected assets of the Canada Pension Plan at the end of any given year over the projected annual expenditures of the Canada Pension Plan in the following year being generally constant; and

  • (d) that changes to the Act that increase benefits or add new benefits must be accompanied by a permanent increase in the contribution rates to cover the extra costs of the increased or new benefits and by a temporary increase in the contribution rates for a number of years that is consistent with common actuarial practice to fully pay any unfunded liability resulting from the increased or new benefits.

• Marginal note:Role of Minister when recommendations made

  (5) On the completion of a review required by subsection (1), the Minister of Finance may recommend to the Governor in Council that the Governor in Council make regulations under subsection (6) to amend the schedule in accordance with that subsection to give effect to any recommendations made under subsection (1). Where the recommendations made under subsection (1) are that no changes be made to benefits or contribution rates, the Minister of Finance shall cause those recommendations to be published in the Canada Gazette.

• Marginal note:Regulation to adjust rates

  (6) Subject to subsections (7) and (8), the Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance made under subsection (5), by regulation amend the schedule to change the contribution rate for employees, employers and self-employed persons for any or all of the years following the review.

• Marginal note:Limitation on adjustments

  (7) The following shall apply with respect to any adjustment and setting of contribution rates pursuant to subsection (6):

  • (a) the contribution rate for employees and employers for a year must be identical;

  • (b) the contribution rate for self-employed persons for a year must be equal to the sum of the contribution rates for employees and employers for that year;

  • (c) no contribution rate for employees and employers for a year may be increased by more than one-tenth of a percentage point above the contribution rate for the previous year; and

  • (d) no contribution rate for self-employed persons for a year may be increased by more than two-tenths of a percentage point above the contribution rate for the previous year.

• Marginal note:Coming into force of regulation

  (8) Where a review takes place in a three year period as required by subsection (1) and the Governor in Council before October 1 of the third year of that period makes a regulation under subsection (6), the regulation shall, by order made by the Governor in Council, come into force, or is deemed to have come into force, on January 1 of the year after that period.

• Marginal note:Provincial consent required

  (8.1) An order made under subsection (8) may not be made unless the lieutenant governor in council of each of at least two thirds of the included provinces, having in total not less than two thirds of the population of all of the included provinces, has, before the October 1 date referred to in that subsection, signified the consent of that province to the coming into force of the regulation.

• Marginal note:Exemption from Statutory Instruments Act

  (9) A regulation made pursuant to subsection (6) is exempt from the application of sections 3, 5 and 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act.

• Marginal note:Publication in Canada Gazette

  (10) Forthwith on the coming into force of any regulation made pursuant to subsection (6), the Minister of Finance shall cause a copy thereof to be published in the Canada Gazette.

• (11) to (11.04) [Repealed, 2007, c. 11, s. 12]

• Marginal note:Insufficient rates

  (11.05) Subject to subsections (11.12) and (11.13), if, at October 1 of the year before a three-year period for which a review is required by subsection (1), the contribution rate for self-employed persons for the years in that three-year period less the contribution rate most recently calculated under subparagraph 115(1.1)(c)(ii) is less than the contribution rate most recently calculated under subparagraph 115(1.1)(c)(i) for self-employed persons for those years,

  • (a) the benefits payable in the three year period shall be determined as if the ratios referred to in paragraphs 45(2)(b) and 56(2)(c), subsection 58(1.1) and subparagraph 59(c)(ii) were each 1; and

  • (b) the schedule is deemed to have been amended as of the next day after that October 1

    • (i) to increase the contribution rate for employees and employers for each year after that October 1 to the rate determined under subsections (11.07) to (11.11) for that year, and

    • (ii) to increase the contribution rate for self-employed persons for each year after that October 1 to twice the contribution rate determined under subsections (11.07) to (11.11) for employers for that year.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (11.06) In the calculations under subsections (11.07) to (11.11),

  A

  is one half of the contribution rate most recently calculated under subparagraph 115(1.1)(c)(i) for self-employed persons for the years in the three-year period referred to in subsection (11.05);

  B

  is the contribution rate for employees and employers at October 1 of the third year of the last three-year period for which contribution rates were set for employees and employers, by an Act of Parliament or by a regulation made under subsection (6), on the recommendation of ministers under subsection (1);

  C

  is one half of the contribution rate most recently calculated under subparagraph 115(1.1)(c)(ii) for self-employed persons for the years in the three-year period referred to in subsection (11.05); and

  D

  is the difference between B and C.

• Marginal note:Determination of rate — 1st case

  (11.07) If neither A nor D is greater than 4.95% and A is greater than D, the contribution rate for employees and employers for each year after the October 1 date referred to in subsection (11.05) is A plus C.

• Marginal note:Determination of rate — 2nd case

  (11.08) If A is greater than 4.95%, D is less than or equal to 4.95% and the percentage determined by the formula

  1/2(A - D)

  is less than or equal to 0.1%, then the contribution rate for employees and employers for each year after the October 1 date referred to in subsection (11.05) is the rate determined by the formula

  4.95% + 1/2(A - 4.95%) + C

• Marginal note:Determination of rate — 3rd case

  (11.09) If A is greater than 4.95%, D is less than or equal to 4.95% and the percentage determined by the formula

  1/2(A - D)

  is greater than 0.1%, then the contribution rate for employees and employers is

  • (a) for the first year after the October 1 date referred to in subsection (11.05), the rate determined by the formula

    4.95% + 1/6(A - 4.95%) + C

  • (b) for the next year, the rate determined by the formula

    4.95% + 1/3(A - 4.95%) + C

    and

  • (c) for each subsequent year, the rate determined by the formula

    4.95% + 1/2(A - 4.95%) + C

• Marginal note:Determination of rate — 4th case

  (11.1) If subsections (11.07) to (11.09) do not apply and the percentage determined by the formula

  1/2(A - D)

  is less than or equal to 0.1%, then the contribution rate for employees and employers for each year after the October 1 date referred to in subsection (11.05) is the rate determined by the formula

  D + 1/2(A - D) + C

• Marginal note:Determination of rate — 5th case

  (11.11) If subsections (11.07) to (11.1) do not apply, then the contribution rate for employees and employers is

  • (a) for the first year after the October 1 date referred to in subsection (11.05), the rate determined by the formula

    D + 1/6(A - D) + C

  • (b) for the next year, the rate determined by the formula

    D + 1/3(A - D) + C

    and

  • (c) for each subsequent year, the rate determined by the formula

    D + 1/2(A - D) + C

• Marginal note:Where paragraph (11.05)(a) does not apply

  (11.12) Paragraph (11.05)(a) does not apply if subsection (11.07) applies.

• Marginal note:Where subsection (11.05) does not apply

  (11.13) Subsection (11.05) does not apply where

  • (a) a recommendation was made under subsection (1) in the three years before the three year period referred to in subsection (11.05) that the contribution rates for one or more of the years in that three year period be increased and the rates were increased before October 1 of the year before that three year period, by an Act of Parliament or by a regulation made under subsection (6), to give effect to that recommendation; or

  • (b) a recommendation was made under subsection (1) in the three years before the three year period referred to in subsection (11.05) that the contribution rates for the years in that three year period not be increased and the Minister of Finance before October 1 of the year before that three year period has caused that recommendation to be published in the Canada Gazette.

• Marginal note:Adjustment

  (11.14) If a contribution rate determined under any of subsections (11.07) to (11.11) is not a multiple of 0.005%, the contribution rate is to be rounded to the nearest multiple of 0.005%.

• Marginal note:Rates to be published

  (11.15) The Minister of Finance shall publish in the Canada Gazette any amendment to the schedule deemed to have been made under this section.

• Marginal note:Application of subsection 114(2)

  (12) For greater certainty, subsection 114(2) does not apply to any amendments to the schedule made under subsection (6) or subsections (11.05) to (11.11).

• Marginal note:Meaning of “included province”

  (13) In this section, included province has the same meaning as in subsection 114(1).

Amendments to Act

Definition of included province

• 114 (1) In this section, included province means a province other than Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut, except a province providing a comprehensive pension plan unless at the time in respect of which the description is relevant there is in force an agreement entered into under subsection 4(3) with the government of that province.

• Marginal note:Effective date of major amendments

  (2) Where any enactment of Parliament contains any provision that alters, or the effect of which is to alter, either directly or indirectly and either immediately or in the future, the general level of benefits provided by this Act or the contribution rate for employees, employers or self-employed persons for any year, it shall be deemed to be a term of that enactment, whether or not it is expressly stated in the enactment, that the provision shall come into force only on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council, which day shall not in any case be earlier than the first day of the third year following the year in which any notice of intention to introduce a measure containing a provision to that effect was laid before Parliament.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (3) A notice of intention described in subsection (2) shall be in such form as is sufficient to indicate the nature of the provision contained or proposed to be contained in the measure referred to in subsection (2) to the effect described in that subsection, and on any such notice being laid before Parliament the Minister shall forthwith cause a copy thereof to be sent to the lieutenant governor in council of each included province.

• Marginal note:Coming into force of other amendments of substance

  (4) Where any enactment of Parliament contains any provision that alters, or the effect of which is to alter, either directly or indirectly and either immediately or in the future,

  • (a) the general level of benefits provided by this Act,

  • (b) the classes of benefits provided by this Act,

  • (c) the contribution rate for employees, employers or self-employed persons for any year,

  • (d) the formulae for calculating the contributions and benefits payable under this Act,

  • (e) the management or operation of the Canada Pension Plan Account, or

  • (f) the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act,

  it shall be deemed to be a term of that enactment, whether or not it is expressly stated in the enactment, that the provision shall come into force only on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council, which order may not be made and shall not in any case have any force or effect unless the lieutenant governor in council of each of at least two thirds of the included provinces, having in the aggregate not less than two thirds of the population of all of the included provinces, has signified the consent of that province to the enactment.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (4.1) Subsections (2) and (4) do not apply in respect of changes under any of subsections 113.1(11.05) to (11.11) to benefits or contribution rates.

• Marginal note:Determination of population

  (5) For the purposes of this section, the population of a province at any time in a year in respect of which the determination thereof is relevant means the population thereof on June 1 of that year, as estimated by the Chief Statistician of Canada.