Old Age Security Act

Marginal note:Amounts on April 1, 2005

• 12 (1) The amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the payment quarter commencing on April 1, 2005 is,

  • (a) in the case of a person other than a person described in paragraph (b), five hundred and sixty-two dollars and ninety-three cents, and

  • (b) in the case of a person who, on the day immediately before that payment quarter, had a spouse or common-law partner to whom a pension may be paid for any month in that payment quarter,

    • (i) in respect of any month in that payment quarter before the first month for which a pension may be paid to the spouse or common-law partner, five hundred and sixty-two dollars and ninety-three cents, and

    • (ii) in respect of any month in that payment quarter commencing with the first month for which a pension may be paid to the spouse or common-law partner, three hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents,

  minus one dollar for each full two dollars of the pensioner’s monthly base income.

• Marginal note:Increase on January 1, 2006

  (1.1) The amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 2006 is the amount of the supplement that would otherwise be payable plus

  • (a) eighteen dollars, in the case of a person described in paragraph (1)(a) or subparagraph (1)(b)(i); and

  • (b) fourteen dollars and fifty cents, in the case of a person described in subparagraph (1)(b)(ii).

• Marginal note:Increase on January 1, 2007

  (1.2) The amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 2007 is the amount of the supplement that would otherwise be payable plus

  • (a) eighteen dollars, in the case of a person described in paragraph (1)(a) or subparagraph (1)(b)(i); and

  • (b) fourteen dollars and fifty cents, in the case of a person described subparagraph (1)(b)(ii).

• Marginal note:Indexation

  (2) Subject to subsections (1.1) and (1.2), the amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in any payment quarter commencing after June 30, 2005 is the amount obtained by multiplying

  • (a) the maximum amount of the supplement that might have been paid to the pensioner for any month in the three-month period immediately before that payment quarter

  by

  • (b) the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter bears to the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter,

  minus one dollar for each full two dollars of the pensioner’s monthly base income.

• Marginal note:No decrease in maximum amount of supplement

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the maximum amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in a payment quarter shall be not less than the maximum amount of the supplement that was or may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the three month period immediately before that payment quarter.

• Marginal note:Effect of reduction in Consumer Price Index

  (4) Where, in relation to any payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter is lower than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter,

  • (a) no supplement adjustment shall be made pursuant to subsection (2) in respect of that payment quarter; and

  • (b) no supplement adjustment shall be made pursuant to that subsection in respect of any subsequent payment quarter until, in relation to a subsequent payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter is higher than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in paragraph (a), in which case the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in that paragraph shall be deemed to be the second adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter.

• Marginal note:Guaranteed minimum income for pensioners

  (5) Despite subsection (2), the amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month after December 1997 is the amount determined by the formula

  [(A - B) × C] - D/2

  where

  A

  is the aggregate of

  • (a) the maximum amount of the supplement that, but for this subsection, might have been paid to the pensioner for that month, and

  • (b) the amount of the full monthly pension;

  B

  is the pensioner’s monthly pension;

  C

  is the pensioner’s special qualifying factor for the month; and

  D

  is the pensioner’s monthly base income rounded, where it is not a multiple of two dollars, to the next lower multiple of two dollars.

• Marginal note:Enhancement of supplement for certain married pensioners

  (5.1) Where the aggregate of the pensions and supplements payable for a month to two pensioners each of whom is the other’s spouse or common-law partner is less than the aggregate of the pension and supplement that would be payable for that month to one of them if the other were not a pensioner, the Minister may, notwithstanding subsection (2), pay to one of them for that month

  • (a) the amount of supplement that would be payable for that month to that pensioner, if the other were not a pensioner,

  minus

  • (b) the aggregate of the pension and supplement payable for that month to the other.

• Definition of monthly base income

  (6) In this section, monthly base income means, in relation to the calculation of the supplement for a month in any given payment quarter,

  • (a) in the case of a person other than an applicant described in paragraph (b) or (c), one-twelfth of the income of that person for the base calendar year;

  • (b) in the case of an applicant who, on the day immediately before the current payment period, was the spouse or common-law partner of a person to whom no pension may be paid for any month in the current payment period, the amount determined by the formula

    A/24 - B/2

    where

    A

    is the aggregate of the incomes of the applicant and the spouse or common-law partner for the base calendar year, and

    B

    is the product

    • (i) obtained by multiplying the amount of the full monthly pension that might have been paid to a pensioner for any month by the applicant’s special qualifying factor for the month, and

    • (ii) rounded, where that product is not a multiple of four dollars, to the next higher multiple of four dollars; and

  • (c) in the case of an applicant who, on the day immediately before the current payment period, was the spouse or common-law partner of a person to whom a pension may be paid for any month in the payment period,

    • (i) in respect of any month in the current payment period before the first month for which a pension may be paid to the spouse or common-law partner, the amount determined for the applicant for the month under paragraph (b), and

    • (ii) in respect of any month in that payment period commencing with the first month for which a pension may be paid to the spouse or common-law partner, one twenty-fourth of the aggregate of the incomes of the applicant and the spouse or common-law partner for the base calendar year.