Parliament of Canada Act

Marginal note:Where member not re-elected

• 70 (1) Subject to section 71, where a person who holds a seat in the House of Commons on the day of a dissolution of the House is, for any reason, not re-elected as a member thereof at the next following general election of members of the House, the person shall be paid a severance allowance in accordance with subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Death or disability

  (2) Subject to subsection (2.1) and section 71, where a person who holds a seat in the House of Commons dies or ceases to be a member of the House by reason of any permanent illness or infirmity by which the person is, in the opinion of the Speaker of the House, disabled from performing the person’s duties as a member of the House, there shall be paid to or in respect of the person a severance allowance in accordance with subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2.1) A severance allowance shall not be paid to or in respect of a person who is entitled to and elects to receive a disability allowance under section 71.1.

• Marginal note:Notice of Speaker’s opinion

  (3) Notice of the opinion referred to in subsection (2) shall be given to members of the House of Commons by means of a statement made by the Speaker in the House.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (4) Subject to subsections (4.1) and (5), the severance allowance to be paid to or in respect of a person under subsection (1) or (2) shall be a lump sum amount equal to fifty per cent of the aggregate of

  • (a) the sessional allowance under section 55, and

  • (b) any salary or allowance under section 60, 61 or 62 of this Act or section 4 of the Salaries Act

  to which the person was entitled immediately before ceasing to be a member of Parliament.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (4.1) Subject to subsection (5), the severance allowance to be paid to or in respect of a person under subsection (1) or (2) who is under fifty-five years of age on the day on which the person ceases to be a member and to whom an allowance would be immediately payable under the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act shall be the amount that would be the severance allowance determined under subsection (4) but for this subsection less an amount equal to the annual allowance immediately payable under that Act to the person.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (5) The severance allowance to be paid to or in respect of a person under subsection (1) or (2) who is subject to the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act who is fifty-four years of age immediately before ceasing to be a member of the House of Commons and who will be fifty-five years of age in less than six months is

  • (a) the severance allowance that would otherwise be payable under subsection (4)

  reduced by

  • (b) the amount determined by the formula

    A/B × C

    where

    A

    is the number of days between the beginning of the period mentioned in B and the day the person ceased to be a member of the House of Commons,

    B

    is the number of days in the six month period immediately before the person’s fifty-fifth birthday, and

    C

    is the severance allowance that would otherwise be payable under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Supplementary severance allowance

  (6) Subject to subsection (8), a person who was entitled to elect under subsection 10(1.1) and 32(1.1) of the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act and who did not elect shall be paid a supplementary severance allowance in the form of a lump sum equal to

  • (a) in the case of a person to whom an allowance would not be payable under the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, one twelfth of the sessional allowance under section 55 and any salary or allowance under section 60, 61 or 62 of this Act or section 4 of the Salaries Act to which the person was entitled immediately before ceasing to be a member, for every year the member was a member, to a maximum of twelve years; and

  • (b) in the case of a person to whom an allowance would be payable under the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, one twelfth of the sessional allowance under section 55 and any salary or allowance under section 60, 61 or 62 of this Act or section 4 of the Salaries Act to which the person was entitled immediately before ceasing to be a member, for every year the member was a member in the period referred to in subsections 10(1.1) and 32(1.1) of the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act.

• (7) [Repealed, 2000, c. 27, s. 1]

• Marginal note:Persons under fifty-five years of age

  (8) A person who is under fifty-five years of age on the day the person ceases to be a member is entitled to the supplementary severance allowance only if the person has been a member for at least six years.

• Marginal note:Payment deferred

  (9) Payment of a supplementary severance allowance to a person referred to in subsection (8) who is entitled to it shall be deferred until the person reaches the age of fifty-five, except that if the person dies after becoming entitled to the supplementary severance allowance, it shall be payable immediately. Interest shall accrue on the amount of the supplementary severance allowance from the time the person becomes entitled to it to the time it is paid.

• Marginal note:Member for a year

  (10) For the purposes of subsections (6) and (8), a member is deemed to have been a member for a year if the member was a member for six months or more in any twelve month period.