Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (R.S.C., 1985, c. 32 (2nd Supp.))

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  actuary

  actuary means a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries; (actuaire)

  additional voluntary contribution

  additional voluntary contribution under a pension plan means an optional contribution by a member that does not give rise to an obligation on the employer to make additional contributions; (cotisation facultative)

  administrator

  administrator, in relation to a pension plan, means the administrator referred to in section 7, and includes the replacement administrator appointed under subsection 7.6(1); (administrateur)

  cessation of membership

  cessation of membership in a pension plan has the meaning assigned by subsections (2) and (2.1); (fin de participation)

  collective agreement

  collective agreement means an agreement in writing entered into between an employer and a bargaining agent containing provisions respecting terms and conditions of employment and related matters; (convention collective)

  common-law partner

  common-law partner, in relation to an individual, means a person who is cohabiting with the individual in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year; (conjoint de fait)

  common-law partnership

  common-law partnership means the relationship between two persons who are common-law partners of each other; (union de fait)

  continuous

  continuous, in relation to membership in a pension plan or to employment, means without regard to periods of temporary interruption of the membership or employment; (continu)

  deferred pension benefit

  deferred pension benefit means a pension benefit other than an immediate pension benefit; (prestation de pension différée)

  defined benefit plan

  defined benefit plan means a pension plan that is not a defined contribution plan; (régime à prestations déterminées)

  defined benefit provision

  defined benefit provision means a provision of a pension plan under which pension benefits for a member are determined in any way other than that described in the definition defined contribution provision; (disposition à prestations déterminées)

  defined contribution plan

  defined contribution plan means a pension plan that consists of defined contribution provisions and does not contain defined benefit provisions, other than

  • (a) a defined benefit provision relating to pension benefits accrued in respect of employment before the effective date of the pension plan, or

  • (b) a defined benefit provision that provides for a minimum pension benefit whose additional value is not significant in the Superintendent’s opinion; (régime à cotisations déterminées)

  defined contribution provision

  defined contribution provision means a provision of a pension plan under which pension benefits for a member are determined solely as a function of the amount of pension benefit that can be provided by

  • (a) contributions made by and on behalf of that member, and

  • (b) interest earnings and other gains and losses allocated to that member; (disposition à cotisations déterminées)

  designated province

  designated province means a province prescribed as a province in which there is in force pension legislation applicable to private superannuation plans; (province désignée)

  electronic document

  electronic document means any form of representation of information or of concepts fixed in any medium by electronic, optical or other similar means that can be read or perceived by a person or by any means; (document électronique)

  employee

  employee includes an officer; (salariés)

  employer

  employer, in relation to an employee, means the person or organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated, in respect of employment with which the employee receives his remuneration, and includes the successors or assigns of that person or organization; (employeur)

  employment

  employment means the performance by an employee of work for remuneration for an employer under an express or implied contract of service or apprenticeship, and includes the tenure of an office; (emploi)

  federal-provincial agreement

  federal-provincial agreement means an agreement entered into under subsection 6.1(1); (accord fédéral-provincial)

  former member

  former member, in relation to a pension plan, means

  • (a) except in sections 9.2 and 24 and paragraph 28(1)(b.1), a person who, on or after January 1, 1987, has either ceased membership in the plan or retired;

  • (b) in section 9.2 and paragraph 28(1)(b.1), a person who has either ceased membership in the plan or retired and has not, before the termination of the whole of the plan,

    • (i) transferred their pension benefit credit under section 26,

    • (ii) used their pension benefit credit to purchase a life annuity under section 26, or

    • (iii) had their pension benefits transferred to another pension plan; or

  • (c) in section 24, a person who, before, on or after January 1, 1987, has either ceased membership in the plan or retired; (ancien)

  full-time basis

  full-time basis, in relation to an employee of a particular class, means engaged to work, throughout the year, all or substantially all of the normally scheduled hours of work established for persons in that class of employees; (à temps plein)

  immediate pension benefit

  immediate pension benefit means a pension benefit that is to commence within one year after the member becomes entitled to it; (prestation de pension immédiate)

  included employment

  included employment has the meaning assigned by section 4; (emploi inclus)

  information system

  information system means a system used to generate, send, receive, store or otherwise process an electronic document; (système d’information)

  joint and survivor pension benefit

  joint and survivor pension benefit means an immediate pension benefit that continues at least until the death of the member or former member or the death of the survivor of the member or former member, whichever occurs later; (prestation réversible)

  marriage

  marriage and remarriage[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 254]

  member

  member, in relation to a pension plan, means a person who has become a member of the pension plan and has neither ceased membership in the plan nor retired; (participant)

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of Finance; (ministre)

  multi-employer pension plan

  multi-employer pension plan means a pension plan organized and administered for employees of two or more employers whose contributions to the pension plan are determined under an agreement between the participating employers or a collective agreement, statute or regulation, if the pension plan provides pension benefits that are determined by periods of employment with any or all of the participating employers, but does not include a pension plan where more than 95% of the plan members are employed by participating employers who are incorporated and are affiliates within the meaning of the Canada Business Corporations Act; (régime interentreprises)

  multilateral agreement

  multilateral agreement[Repealed, 2016, c. 7, s. 201]

  negotiated contribution plan

  negotiated contribution plan means a multi-employer pension plan that includes at least one defined benefit provision and under which a participating employer’s contributions are limited to an amount determined in accordance with an agreement entered into by the participating employers or a collective agreement, statute or regulation, and which amount does not vary as a function of the prescribed tests and standards for solvency referred to in subsection 9(1); (régime à cotisations négociées)

  office

  office means the position of an individual entitling that individual to a fixed or ascertainable stipend or remuneration, and includes the position of an officer or director of a corporation or other organization and of an agent or mandatary acting for a principal or mandator, and officer means a person holding such a position; (fonctions et cadre)

  participating employer

  participating employer, in relation to a multi-employer pension plan, means an employer who is required to contribute to that plan; (employeur participant)

  part-time basis

  part-time basis, in relation to an employee, means engaged to work on other than a full-time basis; (à temps partiel)

  pension benefit

  pension benefit means a periodic amount to which, under the terms of a pension plan, a member or former member, or the spouse, common-law partner, survivor or designated beneficiary or estate or succession of a member or former member, is or may become entitled; (prestation de pension)

  pension benefit credit

  pension benefit credit, in relation to any person, means the aggregate value at a particular time of that person’s pension benefit and other benefits provided under a pension plan, calculated in prescribed manner; (droit à pension)

  pension fund

  pension fund, in relation to a pension plan, means a fund maintained to provide benefits under or related to the pension plan; (fonds de pension)

  pension plan

  pension plan has the meaning assigned by subsection 4(2); (régime de pension)

  pensionable age

  pensionable age, in relation to a member, means the earliest age (taking into account the period of employment with the employer or the period of membership in the pension plan, if applicable) at which a pension benefit, other than a benefit in respect of a disability (as defined in the regulations), is payable to the member under the terms of the pension plan without the consent of the administrator and without reduction by reason of early retirement; (âge admissible)

  plan year

  plan year, in respect of a pension plan, means a calendar year, unless otherwise specified in the plan; (exercice du régime)

  prescribed

  prescribed means prescribed by regulation; (Version anglaise seulement)

  registered pension plan

  registered pension plan means a pension plan that is registered and in respect of which a certificate of registration has been issued by the Superintendent under this Act; (régime agréé)

  retire

  retire has the meaning assigned by subsection (3); (retraite)

  spouse

  spouse, in relation to an individual, includes a person who is party to a void or, in Quebec, null marriage with the individual; (époux)

  standards for registration

  standards for registration[Repealed, 1998, c. 12, s. 1]

  Superintendent

  Superintendent means the Superintendent of Financial Institutions appointed pursuant to subsection 5(1) of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act; (surintendant)

  surplus

  surplus means the amount, determined in the prescribed manner, by which the assets of a pension plan exceed its liabilities; (excédent)

  survivor

  survivor, in relation to a member or former member, means

  • (a) if there is no person described in paragraph (b), the spouse of the member or former member at the time of the member’s or former member’s death, or

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

  termination

  termination, in relation to a pension plan, means the situations described in subsections 29(1), (2), (2.1) and (4.2); (cessation)

  variable benefit

  variable benefit means a pension benefit payable in the form of a variable payment out of the pension fund; (prestation variable)

  winding-up

  winding-up, in relation to a pension plan, means the distribution of the assets of a pension plan that has been terminated; (liquidation)

  workout agreement

  workout agreement means an agreement that establishes a funding schedule that has been approved by the Minister under section 29.3; (accord de sauvetage)

  Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings

  Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings has the same meaning as in the Canada Pension Plan. (maximum des gains annuels ouvrant droit à pension)

• Marginal note:Cessation of membership in a pension plan

  (2) For the purposes of this Act, a member of a pension plan shall be deemed to cease membership in the plan

  • (a) in the case of a multi-employer pension plan, when no contributions have been made in respect of that member by any of the participating employers for a period of twenty-four months, or such shorter period as is provided under the plan, and the member is not in receipt of an immediate pension benefit;

  • (b) in the case of any other pension plan, when the member’s employment with the employer terminates and the member is not in receipt of an immediate pension benefit, whether or not contributions by the employer in respect of that member had ceased previously; or

  • (c) in any other prescribed circumstance.

• Marginal note:For greater certainty

  (2.1) For greater certainty, a member of a pension plan ceases membership in the plan when the whole or part of that plan is terminated.

• Meaning of retire

  (3) For the purposes of this Act, a member of a pension plan shall be deemed to retire on commencing to receive an immediate pension benefit, whether the member’s employment has terminated or not.

• Marginal note:How “spouse or common-law partner” to be read

  (4) Except in section 25, where a member or former member has a spouse from whom they are separated and a common-law partner with whom they are cohabiting, a reference to a “spouse or common-law partner” in respect of that member or former member means the common-law partner.

• Marginal note:Negotiated contribution plan

  (5) Even though a pension plan — established as a negotiated contribution plan — is no longer a negotiated contribution plan because it has only one participating employer or more than 95% of its members are employed by participating employers who are incorporated and are affiliates within the meaning of the Canada Business Corporations Act, that pension plan is deemed to be a negotiated contribution plan for a period of one year after the day it is no longer a negotiated contribution plan, or for any longer period that may be specified by the Superintendent.