BILL C-78 - Royal Assent

	Right to Information
Right to information	40. (1) On the request of the Board's auditor, the present or former directors, officers, employees or agents or mandataries of the Board shall provide to the auditor all information and explanations, and all access to records, minutes, documents, books, accounts and vouchers of the Board and its subsidiaries, that the auditor considers necessary to prepare any report required by this Act and that they are reasonably able to provide.
Directors' duties	(2) On the request of the Board's auditor, the directors shall
	(a) obtain from the present or former directors, officers, employees, agents or mandataries of any of its subsidiaries all information and explanations that
	(i) the auditor considers necessary to enable the auditor to prepare any report required by this Act, and
	(ii) the present or former directors, officers, employees, agents or mandataries are reasonably able to provide; and
	(b) provide the auditor with the information and explanations so obtained.
Reliance on reports	(3) The Board's auditor may reasonably rely on any report of any other auditor of the Board.
No civil liability	(4) A person who in good faith makes an oral or written communication under subsection (1) or (2) is not liable in any civil action arising from having made the communication.
Duty to provide information	41. The Board and its auditor shall provide the Auditor General of Canada with any records, accounts, statements or other information that the Auditor General of Canada may require.
	Qualified Privilege
Qualified privilege	42. Any oral or written statement or report made under this Act by the Board's auditor or a former auditor of the Board has qualified privilege.
	Special Audit
Special audit	43. (1) The Minister may, if the Minister considers it necessary, appoint an auditor to conduct a special audit of the Board or any of its subsidiaries.
Costs of audit	(2) The costs of a special audit are payable by the Board.
Sections 39 to 41 apply	(3) Sections 39 to 41 apply in respect of a special auditor, with any modifications that the circumstances require.
	Special Examination
Special examination	44. (1) The Minister shall cause a special examination to be carried out, at least once every six years, in respect of the Board and any of its subsidiaries to determine if the systems and practices referred to in paragraph 35(1)(b) were, in the period under examination, maintained in a manner that provided reasonable assurance that they met the requirements of paragraphs 35(2)(a) and (c).
Consultation required	(2) Before causing a special examination to be carried out, the Minister shall consult with the Minister of National Defence and the Solicitor General of Canada.
Plan	(3) Before an examiner begins a special examination, the examiner shall survey the systems and practices of the Board and of the subsidiary being examined and submit a plan to the audit committee for the examination, including a statement of the criteria to be applied in the examination.
Resolution of disagree- ments	(4) Disagreements, if any, between the examiner and the audit committee with respect to a plan referred to in subsection (3) may be resolved by the Minister.
Reliance on internal audit	(5) An examiner shall rely on any internal audit conducted under subsection 35(3), to the extent that the examiner considers that reliance to be feasible.
Costs of audit	(6) The costs of a special examination are payable by the Board.
Report	45. (1) An examiner shall, on completion of the special examination, submit a report on the examiner's findings to the Minister, the Minister of National Defence and the Solicitor General of Canada.
Contents	(2) The report of an examiner shall include
	(a) a statement indicating whether, in the examiner's opinion, with respect to the criteria established under subsection 44(3), there is reasonable assurance that there are no significant deficiencies in the systems and practices examined; and
	(b) a statement of the extent to which the examiner relied on internal audits.
Who conducts examination	46. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a special examination referred to in section 44 shall be carried out by the Board's auditor or, if the Minister has consulted the board of directors and is of the opinion that it is necessary, by an auditor appointed by the Minister.
Sections 39 to 41 apply	(2) Sections 39 to 41 apply in respect of an examiner as though the references in those sections to an auditor were references to an examiner.
	REPORTING
	Quarterly Statements
Statements to go to ministers	47. The Board shall send copies of the quarterly financial statements prepared in accordance with subsection 35(6) to the Minister, the Minister of National Defence and the Solicitor General of Canada within 45 days after the end of the three-month period to which they relate.
	Annual Report
Annual report required	48. (1) The Board shall as soon as possible, but in any case within 90 days after the end of each financial year, provide the Minister, the Minister of National Defence and the Solicitor General of Canada with an annual report on the operations of the Board in that year.
Report available to contributors	(2) The Board shall make the report available to contributors under the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act, the Public Service Superannuation Act, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act as soon as is feasible after it is provided to the ministers under subsection (1).
Tabling in Parliament	(3) After receiving the annual report, the Minister shall cause it to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the next 15 days during which that House is sitting.
Contents	(4) The annual report shall contain
	(a) the financial statements for the financial year prepared as required under section 35;
	(b) the Board's auditor's report for the financial year prepared as required under section 36;
	(c) a certificate, signed by a director on behalf of the board of directors, stating that the investments of the Board held during the financial year were in accordance with this Act and the Board's investment policies, standards and procedures;
	(d) a statement of the Board's objectives for the financial year and a statement of the extent to which the Board met those objectives;
	(e) a statement of the Board's objectives for the next financial year and for the foreseeable future;
	(f) a statement of the corporate governance practices of the Board;
	(g) a summary of the Board's investment policies, standards and procedures established under paragraph 7(2)(a) and a comparison of its most recent investment policies with investments actually held by it;
	(h) a summary of the code of conduct for officers and employees of the Board established under paragraph 7(2)(e);
	(i) a report of any special audit referred to in section 43 or any special examination referred to in section 44; and
	(j) any prescribed information or other information that the Minister may require.
	MEETINGS
Meetings	49. The Board shall meet once a year with the members of the three advisory committees established respectively under section 49.1 of the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act, section 41 of the Public Service Superannuation Act and section 25.1 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act in order to discuss the Board's most recent annual report.
	REGULATIONS
Regulations	50. The Governor in Council may make regulations
	(a) respecting the application to the Board and its subsidiaries of provisions of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 and regulations made under that Act;
	(b) adapting provisions of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 and regulations made under that Act in the manner that the Governor in Council considers appropriate for the purpose of applying them to the Board and its subsidiaries;
	(c) respecting the limitations to which the Board is subject when it makes investments, so long as those limitations relate to
	(i) borrowing and the use of derivatives,
	(ii) the establishment of a percentage of the funds that must be held available for investment in Government of Canada bonds and the procedure used to determine that percentage, or
	(iii) the period during which the Board must, in acquiring securities other than debt obligations of Canadian corporations for investment, substantially replicate the composition of one or more widely-recognized broad market indexes of securities traded on a recognized stock exchange in Canada; and
	(d) prescribing anything that this Act provides may be prescribed or may be determined by regulation.
	OFFENCE
False statements	51. (1) Every director, officer, employee, agent, mandatary or auditor of the Board or of any of its subsidiaries who, in carrying out a duty under this Act or the by-laws, prepares, signs, approves or concurs in any statement, report or other document respecting the affairs of the Board or the subsidiary that contains any false or deceptive information is guilty of an offence.
Punishment	(2) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction
	(a) in the case of a natural person, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both; or
	(b) in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $500,000.
	WINDING-UP
Insolvency and winding-up	52. No Act relating to the insolvency or winding-up of any corporation applies to the Board and in no case shall the affairs of the Board be wound up unless Parliament so provides.
R.S., c. P-36; R.S., cc. 22, 46 (1st Supp.), cc. 13, 15, 19, 32 (2nd Supp.), cc. 9, 18, 20, 28 (3rd Supp.), cc. 1, 7, 28, 41, 47, 54 (4th Supp.); 1989, cc. 3, 6; 1990, cc. 3, 13; 1991, cc. 6, 10, 16, 38; 1992, cc. 1, 37, 46; 1993, cc. 1, 28, 31, 34; 1994, cc. 13, 26; 1995, cc. 18, 29; 1996, cc. 10, 11, 16, 18; 1997, cc. 6, 9; 1998, cc. 9, 15, 31, 35	AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION ACT
	*53. (1) The definition ``misconduct'' in subsection 3(1) of the Public Service Superannuation Act* is repealed.**
	(2) The definitions ``child'' and ``contributor'' in subsection 3(1) of the Act are replaced by the following:
``child'' « enfant »	``child'' means a child or stepchild of - or an individual adopted either legally or in fact by - a contributor who at the time of the contributor's death was dependent on the contributor for support;
``contri- butor'' « contri- buteur »	``contributor'' means a person required by section 5 to contribute to the Superannuation Account or the Public Service Pension Fund, and, unless the context otherwise requires,
	(a) a person who has retired, and
	(b) for the purposes of sections 25, 27 and 28, a contributor under Part I of the Superannuation Act who has been granted an annual allowance under that Act or has died;
	(3) Subsection 3(1) of the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:
``Public Service Pension Fund'' « Caisse de retraite de la fonction publique »	``Public Service Pension Fund'' means the fund established under section 44.2;
``Public Service Superannua- tion Investment Fund'' « Fonds de placement du compte de pension de retraite de la fonction publique »	``Public Service Superannuation Investment Fund'' means the fund established under section 44.1;
``survivor'' « survi- vant »	``survivor'', in relation to a contributor, means
	(a) a person who was married to the contributor at the time of the contributor's death, or
	(b) a person referred to in subsection 25(4);
	54. Subsection 4(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Scope of Part I	4. (1) Subject to this Part, an annuity or other benefit specified in this Part shall be paid to or in respect of every person who, being required to contribute to the Superannuation Account or the Public Service Pension Fund in accordance with this Part, dies or ceases to be employed in the Public Service, which annuity or other benefit shall, subject to this Part, be based on the number of years of pensionable service to the credit of that person.
	55. (1) The portion of subsection 5(1) of the Act before paragraph (b) is replaced by the following:
Persons required to contribute	5. (1) Subsections (1.1) to (1.4) apply to persons employed in the Public Service, other than
1992, c. 46, s. 2(2)	(2) Paragraphs 5(1)(b) to (i) of the Act are replaced by the following:
	(b) an employee who is engaged for a term of six months or less or a seasonal employee, unless he or she has been employed in the Public Service substantially without interruption for a period of more than six months;
	(c) subject to section 5.2, a person who, immediately before July 4, 1994, was employed in the Public Service as a part-time employee within the meaning of this Act as it read at that time and who has been so employed substantially without interruption since that time;
	(d) an employee in receipt of a salary computed at an annual rate of less than nine hundred dollars, except any such employee who was a contributor under Part I of the Superannuation Act immediately before January 1, 1954 and has been employed in the Public Service substantially without interruption since that time;
	(e) persons in positions, as determined by the Governor in Council with effect from July 11, 1966, in the whole or any portion of any board, commission or corporation that has its own pension plan while that pension plan is in force;
	(f) an employee on leave of absence from employment outside the Public Service who, in respect of his or her current service, continues to contribute to or under any superannuation or pension fund or plan established for the benefit of employees of the person from whose employment he or she is absent;
	(g) an employee whose compensation for the performance of the regular duties of his or her position or office consists of fees of office;