Bill C-36

If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility of this publication, please contact us at accessible@parl.gc.ca.

PDF

	(b) any pension income received by the person in that part of that calendar year that is after the month immediately before the month in which the loss is suffered, divided by the number of months in that part of that calendar year and multiplied by 12.
Additional statement where retirement before current payment period	(5) Where, in the circumstances described in paragraphs (a) and (b), a person who is an applicant, or who is an applicant's spouse who has filed a statement as described in paragraph 15(2)(a), ceases to hold an office or employment or ceases to carry on a business, the person may, not later than the end of the current payment period, in addition to making the statement of income required by subsection (1) in the case of the applicant or in addition to filing a statement as described in paragraph 15(2)(a) in the case of the applicant's spouse,
	(a) where the person ceases to hold that office or employment or to carry on that business in the last calendar year ending before the payment period, file a statement of the person's estimated income for the calendar year ending in the current payment period, in which case the person's income for that calendar year is deemed to be the person's income for the base calendar year; and
	(b) where the person ceases to hold that office or employment or to carry on that business in a month that is before the payment period and after the last calendar year ending before the payment period, file a statement of the person's estimated income for the calendar year ending in the current payment period showing also any income actually received by the person in that calendar year from that office or employment or from that business, as the case may be, in which case the person's income for the base calendar year shall be calculated as the total of
	(i) the person's income for that calendar year, calculated as though the person had no income from that office or employment or from that business, as the case may be, and no pension income for that calendar year, and
	(ii) any pension income received by the person in that part of that calendar year that is after the month in which the person ceases to hold that office or employment or to carry on that business, divided by the number of months in that part of that calendar year and multiplied by 12.
Additional statement where loss of pension income before current payment period	(6) Where, in the circumstances described in paragraphs (a) and (b), a person who is an applicant, or who is an applicant's spouse who has filed a statement as described in paragraph 15(2)(a), suffers a loss of income due to termination or reduction of pension income, the person may, not later than the end of the current payment period, in addition to making the statement of income required by subsection (1) in the case of the applicant or in addition to filing a statement as described in paragraph 15(2)(a) in the case of the applicant's spouse,
	(a) where the loss is suffered in the last calendar year ending before the payment period, file a statement of the person's estimated income for the calendar year ending in the current payment period, in which case the person's income for that calendar year is deemed to be the person's income for the base calendar year; and
	(b) where the loss is suffered in a month that is before the payment period and after the last calendar year ending before the payment period, file a statement of the person's estimated income for the calendar year ending in the current payment period showing also the amount of pension income actually received by the person in that part of that calendar year that is before the month in which the loss is suffered, in which case the person's income for the base calendar year shall be calculated as the total of
	(i) the person's income for that calendar year, calculated as though the person had no pension income for that calendar year, and
	(ii) any pension income received by the person in that part of that calendar year that is after the month immediately before the month in which the loss is suffered, divided by the number of months in that part of that calendar year and multiplied by 12.
1995, c. 33, s. 7	111. Section 15 of the Act and the heading before it are replaced by the following:
	Spouses
Information required with application for supplement	15. (1) Every person by whom an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period is made shall, in the application, state whether the person has or had a spouse at any time during the payment period or in the month before the first month of the payment period, and, if so, the name and address of the spouse and whether, to the person's knowledge, the spouse is a pensioner.
Statement where application waived	(1.1) Where the requirement for an application for payment of a supplement for any month has been waived under subsection 11(4) and the person to whom the supplement is paid did not have a spouse immediately before the previous payment period but has a spouse immediately before the current payment period, the person shall notify the Minister without delay of the date of that change, the name and address of the spouse and whether, to the person's knowledge, the spouse is a pensioner.
Statement by spouse	(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), where a person makes an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period and the person has or had a spouse at any time during the payment period or in the month before the first month of the payment period, the application shall not be considered or dealt with until such time as
	(a) the applicant's spouse files a statement in prescribed form of the spouse's income for the base calendar year;
	(b) an application for a supplement in respect of the current payment period is received from the applicant's spouse; or
	(c) the income of the applicant's spouse for the base calendar year is estimated under subsection 14(1.1).
Direction by Minister where no statement filed by spouse or where spouses living apart	(3) Where an application for a supplement in respect of any payment period has been made by a person, the Minister may, after any investigation of the circumstances that the Minister considers necessary, direct that the application be considered and dealt with as though the person did not have a spouse on the last day of the previous payment period, in any case where
	(a) no application or statement as described in subsection (2) has been filed by or received from the spouse of the person and no estimate of the income of the spouse of the person has been made under subsection 14(1.1); or
	(b) the Minister is satisfied that the person, as a result of circumstances not attributable to the person or the spouse, was not living with the spouse in a dwelling maintained by the person or the spouse at the time the application was made.
Continuing direction	(3.1) A direction made under subsection (3) in respect of a payment period is deemed to be a direction made in respect of every subsequent payment period, but the Minister may, after any investigation of the circumstances that the Minister considers necessary, cancel the direction.
Direction by Minister where spouses separated	(4) Where an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period that ends before July 1, 1999 has been made by a person, the Minister, if satisfied that the person is separated from the person's spouse, having been so separated for a continuous period of at least six months, exclusive of the month in which the spouses became separated, shall direct that the application be considered and dealt with as though the person had ceased to have a spouse at the end of the sixth such month.
Direction by Minister where spouses separated	(4.1) Where an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period that commences after June 30, 1999 has been made by a person, the Minister, if satisfied that the person is separated from the person's spouse, having been so separated for a continuous period of at least three months, exclusive of the month in which the spouses became separated, shall direct that the application be considered and dealt with as though the person had ceased to have a spouse at the end of the third such month.
Review of direction where statement subsequently filed by spouse	(5) Where, after the Minister has made a direction under subsection (3) with respect to an application for a supplement made in respect of a payment period that ends before July 1, 1999, a statement or application as described in subsection (2) is filed by or received from the applicant's spouse, the Minister may review the direction previously made and direct that any supplement paid to the applicant or the spouse for any month in that payment period after the month in which the review is made be calculated either on the basis that the applicant and the spouse were spouses of each other on the last day of the previous payment period or as though they had not been spouses on that day, according as the direction may specify.
Review of direction where statement subsequently filed by spouse	(5.1) Where, after the Minister has made a direction under subsection (3) based on paragraph (3)(a), with respect to an application for a supplement made in respect of a payment period that commences after June 30, 1999 and a statement or application as described in subsection (2) is filed by or received from the applicant's spouse, the Minister shall review the direction previously made and shall direct that any supplement paid to the applicant or the spouse for months in that payment period after the month in which the review is completed be calculated on the basis that the applicant and the spouse were spouses of each other on the last day of the previous payment period, unless there is some other reason for a direction to be made under subsection (3).
Direction by Minister where applicant becomes a spouse or separation ceases	(6) Where an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period that ends before July 1, 1999 is made, by a person who did not have a spouse immediately before a particular month in the payment period but has a spouse at the end of that month or, in the case of a person described in subsection (4), has ceased to be separated from their spouse, the Minister may, if requested to do so by that person, direct that any supplement paid to that person or spouse, for any month in that payment period after the month in which the direction is made, be calculated as though that person and their spouse had been spouses of each other on the last day of the previous payment period.
Where applicant becomes a spouse or separation ceases	(6.1) Where an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period that commences after June 30, 1999 is made by a person who did not have a spouse immediately before a particular month in the payment period but has a spouse at the end of that month, is a person in respect of whom a direction is made under subsection (3) based on paragraph (3)(b) who no longer meets the conditions set out in that paragraph, or is a person described in subsection (4.1) who ceases to be separated from the person's spouse, the calculation of the supplement shall be made, for any month after the month in which the person began to have a spouse, no longer met the conditions or ceased to be separated from the spouse, as though the person and the spouse were spouses of each other on the last day of the previous payment period.
Direction by Minister where applicant ceases to have a spouse	(7) Where an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period that ends before July 1, 1999 is or has been made by a person who at any time in that payment period has ceased to have a spouse, whether as a result of the death of their spouse or otherwise, the Minister may, if requested to do so by that person, direct that any supplement paid to that person, for any month in that payment period after the month in which the direction is made, be calculated as though that person had no spouse on the last day of the previous payment period.
Where applicant ceases to have a spouse	(7.1) Where an application for a supplement in respect of a payment period that commences after June 30, 1999 is made by a person who at any time in the payment period ceases to have a spouse, the supplement paid to the person, for any month in that payment period after the month in which the person ceased to have a spouse, shall be calculated as though the person did not have a spouse on the last day of the previous payment period.
Saving provision	(8) Nothing in subsections (6) to (7.1) shall be construed as limiting or restricting the authority of the Minister to make a direction under subsections (3) to (5.1).
Notification of change	(9) Every applicant shall inform the Minister without delay if they separate from, or cease to have, a spouse, or if they had a spouse at the beginning of a month, not having had a spouse at the beginning of the previous month.
	112. Section 17 of the English version of the Act is replaced by the following:
Payment of supplement to be made in arrears	17. Payment of a supplement for any month shall be made in arrears at the end of the month, except that where payment of a supplement in respect of months in any payment period is approved after the end of the month for which the first payment of the supplement may be made, payments of the supplement for the month in which payment of the supplement is approved and for months before that month may be made at the end of that month or at the end of the month immediately after that month.
1995, c. 33, s. 9(1)	113. Section 18 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Adjustment of payments of supplements	18. Where it is determined that the income for a base calendar year (in this section referred to as the ``actual income'') of an applicant for a supplement does not accord with the income of the applicant (in this section referred to as the ``shown income'') calculated on the basis of a statement or an estimate made under section 14, the following adjustments shall be made:
	(a) if the actual income exceeds the shown income, any amount by which the supplement paid to the applicant for months in the payment period exceeds the supplement that would have been paid to the applicant for those months if the shown income had been equal to the actual income shall be deducted and retained out of any subsequent payments of supplement or pension made to the applicant, in any manner that may be prescribed; and
	(b) if the shown income exceeds the actual income, there shall be paid to the applicant any amount by which the supplement that would have been paid to the applicant for months in the payment period if the actual income had been equal to the shown income exceeds the supplement paid to the applicant for those months.
	114. (1) The portion of subsection 19(1) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
Payment of spouse's allowance	19. (1) Subject to this Act and the regulations, a spouse's allowance may be paid to the spouse of a pensioner for a month in a payment period if the spouse
	(2) Paragraph 19(1)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(a) is not separated from the pensioner, or has separated from the pensioner where the separation commenced after June 30, 1999 and not more than three months before the month in the payment period;
R.S., c. 34 (1st Supp.), s. 2(2)	(3) Subsection 19(5) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Cessation of allowance	(5) A spouse's allowance under this section ceases to be payable on the expiration of the month in which the spouse in respect of whom it is paid dies, becomes the spouse of another person or no longer meets the conditions set out in subsection (1).
	(4) Subsections (2) and (3) come into force on July 1, 1999.
R.S., c. 34 (1st Supp.), s. 4	115. (1) Subsection 21(5) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Exception to application requirement	(5) Where the spouses had, before the death of the pensioner, made a joint application for the spouse's allowance under section 19 for months in the payment period of the pensioner's death or the following payment period, no application is required to be made by the pensioner's widow under subsection (4) in respect of the payment of a spouse's allowance under this section for months in the payment period in respect of which the joint application was made.
	(2) Subsection 21(9) of the Act is amended by striking out the word ``or'' at the end of paragraph (a), by adding the word ``or'' at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following after paragraph (b):
	(c) any month during which the widow is
	(i) a specially qualified individual, and
	(ii) a permanent resident, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration Act, in respect of whom an undertaking by a sponsor is in effect as provided in that Act and regulations under that Act.
	(3) Section 21 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (9):
Application of paragraph (9)(c)	(9.1) Paragraph (9)(c) does not apply to a widow where an event as provided by the regulations has occurred.
R.S., c. 34 (1st Supp.), s. 4	(4) Subsection 21(11) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Special case	(11) Where subsection (5) applies, subsection (10) also applies in respect of months in the payment period in respect of which the joint application was made and that are after the pensioner's death.
	(5) Subsections (2) and (3) are deemed to have come into force on April 1, 1996.
	116. (1) The definition ``current fiscal year'' in subsection 22(1) of the Act is repealed.
1996, c. 18, s. 54(1)	(2) The definitions ``base calendar year'', ``income'', ``residual family income'', ``residual income of the widow'', ``rounded pension equivalent'' and ``rounded supplement equivalent'' in subsection 22(1) of the Act are replaced by the following:
``base calendar year'' « année de référence »	``base calendar year'' has the same meaning as in section 10;
``income'' « revenu de l'année civile »	``income'', for the purposes of determining the amount of benefits under this Part that may be paid for a month before July 1, 1999, means the income calculated as prescribed by section 13;
``residual family income'' « revenu familial résiduel »	``residual family income'' of a pensioner and the pensioner's spouse for a month in a current payment period means the amount determined by the formula
	A - B
	where
	A is the monthly family income of the pensioner and the pensioner's spouse in the current payment period, and
	B is the product
	(a) obtained by multiplying four-thirds of the rounded pension equivalent by the spouse's special qualifying factor for the month, and
	(b) for the purpose of determining the amount of benefits calculated pursuant to this Part for any month before July 1, 1999, rounded, where that product is not a multiple of four dollars, to the next higher multiple of four dollars;
``residual income of the widow'' « revenu résiduel de la veuve »	``residual income of the widow'' for a month in a current payment period means the amount determined by the formula
	A - B
	where
	A is the monthly income of the widow in the current payment period, and
	B is the product

Bill C-36

Spouses