Special Retirement Arrangements Act (S.C. 1992, c. 46, Sch. I)

Marginal note:Advisory committees

• 14 (1) The Governor in Council may establish advisory committees to advise and assist the Minister on matters arising in connection with the operation of any retirement compensation arrangement or with any proposal to establish a retirement compensation arrangement.

• Marginal note:Membership

  (2) An advisory committee shall consist of eight persons appointed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Minister, four of whom shall be selected from among persons who are subject to a retirement compensation arrangement or may become subject to a retirement compensation arrangement that is proposed to be established, as appropriate.

• Marginal note:Term

  (3) A member of an advisory committee shall be appointed to hold office for a term not exceeding three years.

Contributions

Marginal note:Persons required to contribute

15 Every person who is subject to a retirement compensation arrangement that is designated by the regulations is required to contribute to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account, by reservation from the person’s salary, from any benefit that is or becomes payable to, or in respect of, that person or otherwise, in the manner and under the circumstances prescribed in respect of that arrangement, at the rate or rates established by the regulations in respect of that arrangement.

Marginal note:Public Service corporations

• 16 (1) A Public Service corporation that is designated by the regulations shall pay into the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account, at such time or times as the Minister may determine, in respect of any benefits accrued or accruing by any employee of the Public Service corporation under a retirement compensation arrangement, an amount determined in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (2) In this section, “employee” and “Public Service corporation” have the same meaning as in subsection 37(2) of the Public Service Superannuation Act.

Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account

Marginal note:Establishment of Account

17 There shall be established in the accounts of Canada an account to be known as the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account.

Marginal note:Amounts to be credited to Account

• 18 (1) There shall be credited to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account in each fiscal year

  • (a) in respect of every month, an amount equal to the amount estimated by the Minister to be required to provide for the cost of the benefits that have accrued in respect of that month and that will become chargeable against that Account; and

  • (b) an amount representing interest on the balance from time to time to the credit of that Account, calculated at the same rates and credited in the same manner and at the same time as interest is calculated and credited in respect of the Superannuation Account.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) There shall be credited to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account in each calendar year an amount equal to the amount, if any, determined at the end of the year, that is refundable in respect of that Account under subsection 207.7(2) of the Income Tax Act.

Marginal note:Valuation and assets reports

• 19 (1) A valuation report and an assets report on the state of the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account shall be prepared, filed with the Minister and laid before Parliament in accordance with the Public Pensions Reporting Act as if the retirement compensation arrangements established under this Act were pension plans established under an Act referred to in subsection 3(1) of that Act.

• Marginal note:Review dates

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the review date as of which an actuarial review of the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account must be conducted for the purposes of the first valuation report is December 31 in the year that is four years after the day on which this subsection comes into force and, thereafter, the review dates must not be more than three years apart.

• Marginal note:Amounts to be credited on basis of valuation report

  (3) Following the laying before Parliament of any valuation report under subsection (1), there shall be credited to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account, at the time and in the manner determined by the Minister, such amounts as in the opinion of the Minister will, at the end of the prescribed period, together with the amount estimated by the Minister to be to the credit of the Account at that time, meet the cost of the benefits chargeable against the Account.

Marginal note:Amounts to be charged to Account

• 20 (1) There shall be charged to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account in each calendar year an amount equal to the amount of tax, if any, that is payable for that year in respect of the Account under subsection 207.7(1) of the Income Tax Act.

• Marginal note:Amounts to be credited to other accounts

  (2) The amounts charged to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account under subsection (1) shall be credited to the appropriate account in the accounts of Canada.

Marginal note:Payment out of Consolidated Revenue Fund

21 Benefits and other amounts payable under a retirement compensation arrangement shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and charged to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account.

General

Marginal note:Benefits not assignable, etc.

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

• (a) a benefit under a special pension plan or retirement compensation arrangement is not capable of being assigned, charged, anticipated or given as security, and any transaction that purports to assign, charge, anticipate or give as security any such benefit is void;

• (b) a benefit to which a person is entitled under a special pension plan or retirement compensation arrangement is not capable of being surrendered or commuted during the lifetime of that person, and any transaction that purports to so surrender or commute any such benefit is void; and

• (c) a benefit under a special pension plan or retirement compensation arrangement is exempt from attachment, seizure and execution, either at law or in equity.

Marginal note:Remedial action

23 Where the Minister is satisfied that, as a result of erroneous advice or an administrative error on the part of any person acting in an official capacity in the administration of a special pension plan, a retirement compensation arrangement or this Act, a person has been denied a benefit to which the person was entitled or the opportunity to exercise a right, to elect a benefit or to opt for a benefit, the Minister may take such remedial action as the Minister considers appropriate to place that person in the position that the person would have been in if that erroneous advice had not been given or that administrative error had not been made.

Marginal note:Recovery of amounts due

• 24 (1) Where a member or former member of a special pension plan or a person subject to a retirement compensation arrangement dies and an amount payable by that member, former member or person into the Registered Pension Plans Account or Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account remains due at the time of death, that amount, together with interest at the prescribed rate or determined in the prescribed manner, from the time that amount became due, may be recovered in the prescribed manner from any benefit payable under that pension plan or arrangement in respect of that member, former member or person, without prejudice to any other recourse available to Her Majesty in right of Canada with respect to the recovery thereof.

• Marginal note:Amounts to be credited to appropriate Account

  (2) An amount recovered under subsection (1) shall be credited to the Registered Pension Plans Account or the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account, as appropriate.

Marginal note:Recovery of amounts paid in error

25 Subject to the regulations, where an amount is paid in error under a special pension plan or retirement compensation arrangement on account of any benefit payable on a periodic basis, the Minister may authorize the retention, by way of deduction from any subsequent payment of that benefit, of the amount paid in error, together with interest at the prescribed rate or determined in the prescribed manner, from the time the amount was paid in error, and any charge prescribed in respect thereof, without prejudice to any other recourse available to Her Majesty in right of Canada with respect to the recovery thereof.

Marginal note:Annual report

• 26 (1) The Minister shall in each fiscal year prepare a report on the administration of this Act during the preceding fiscal year, which report shall include a statement showing the amounts paid into and out of the Registered Pension Plans Account and the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account during that year, by appropriate classifications, the number of persons contributing to each Account and the number of persons receiving benefits under the special pension plans and retirement compensation arrangements established under this Act, together with such additional information as the Governor in Council may require.

• Marginal note:Report to be laid before Parliament

  (2) The Minister shall cause every report prepared under subsection (1) to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first thirty days on which that House is sitting after it is prepared.

Marginal note:Governor in Council may exempt

27 The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, by order, exempt, subject to the regulations, any person or class of persons from the application of the Public Service Superannuation Act, the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act, if that person or class of persons

• (a) would not be eligible to receive a pension benefit under that Act were that Act to apply to that person or class of persons;

• (b) would not be eligible to receive any additional pension benefit were that Act to continue to apply to that person or class of persons; or

• (c) is subject to any other pension plan that is registered under the Income Tax Act.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 28 (1) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations

  • (a) respecting the time or times at which a person or class of persons becomes exempt from the application of the Diplomatic Service (Special) Superannuation Act or the Lieutenant Governors Superannuation Act by an order made under paragraph 3(1)(a) and respecting the manner in which and extent to which any provision of that Act or the regulations made under that Act applies, notwithstanding the exemption, to that person or class of persons and to other persons affected by the exemption, and adapting any such provision to those persons or that class of persons, where necessary for the purpose of providing for the consequences of the exemption or of ensuring the practical operation of that Act or those regulations and a special pension plan;

  • (b) prescribing the time or times at which a person becomes or ceases to be a member of a special pension plan or is deemed to become or to cease to be a member for the purposes of that pension plan or this Act;

  • (b.1) specifying the persons who may be beneficiaries of a pension benefit;

  • (c) for the purposes of section 5, designating special pension plans, defining the word “salary”, and establishing the rate or rates at which persons shall contribute to the Registered Pension Plans Account in respect of a special pension plan;

  • (d) respecting the crediting to the Registered Pension Plans Account and the charging to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of amounts representing the aggregate value at any particular time of any benefits that have accrued to a person under the Diplomatic Service (Special) Superannuation Act or the Lieutenant Governors Superannuation Act, as calculated in the prescribed manner;

  • (e) respecting the conditions under which and the extent to which the employment or service that relates to the benefits referred to in paragraph (d) may be counted as pensionable employment or service for the purposes of a special pension plan;

  • (f) prescribing the time or times at which a person becomes or ceases to be subject to a retirement compensation arrangement or is deemed to become or to cease to be subject to a retirement compensation arrangement for the purposes of that arrangement or this Act;

  • (g) respecting elections under paragraph 11(1)(d);

  • (h) for the purposes of section 15, designating retirement compensation arrangements, defining the word “salary” and establishing the rate or rates at which persons shall contribute to the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account in respect of a retirement compensation arrangement;

  • (i) designating Public Service corporations for the purposes of subsection 16(1) and determining the amounts that Public Service corporations shall pay into the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account under that subsection;

  • (j) respecting any overpayment made out of the Registered Pension Plans Account or the Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account and respecting the deletion, writing off and remission of amounts required to be paid into either Account;

  • (k) respecting the administration of any special pension plan or retirement compensation arrangement;

  • (l) respecting the termination or winding-up of any special pension plan or retirement compensation arrangement;

  • (m) respecting the retention of an amount referred to in section 25;

  • (n) respecting the time or times at which any person or class of persons becomes exempt from the application of the Public Service Superannuation Act, the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act by an order made under section 27 and respecting the manner in which and extent to which any provision of that Act or the regulations made under that Act applies, notwithstanding the exemption, to that person or class of persons and to other persons affected by the exemption, and adapting any such provision to those persons or that class of persons, where necessary for the purpose of providing for the consequences of the exemption;

  • (o) prescribing any matter or thing that by this Act is to be or may be prescribed; and

  • (p) generally as the Governor in Council may consider necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

• Marginal note:Retroactive application of regulations

  (2) Regulations made under paragraph (1)(a), (b), (c), (h), (i) or (n) may, if they so provide, be retroactive and have effect with respect to any period before they are made.