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Bill C-85

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42-43-44 ELIZABETH II

CHAPTER 30

An Act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act and to provide for the continuation of a certain provision

[Assented to 13th July, 1995]

      Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

R.S., c. M-5; 1989, c. 6; 1992, c. 46

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT RETIRING ALLOWANCES ACT

1992, c. 46, s. 81

1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition ``defined benefit limit'' in subsection 2(1) of the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act are replaced by the following:

      (a) in respect of a calendar year before 1995, $ 1,722.22, and

      (b) in respect of the 1995 calendar year and any subsequent calendar year, the amount prescribed;

2. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 2:

ELECTION TO CONTINUE OR COME UNDER ACT

Continuing under Act

2.1 (1) A member of the House of Commons in the thirty-fifth Parliament who is contributing under subsection 9(1) or (2), 11(1), 12(2), 31(1), (2) or (3), 33(1) or (2) or 34(2) or section 47 on the coming into force of this section may, within sixty days after the day on which this section comes into force, elect in accordance with subsection 56(2) to continue to contribute under all those provisions under which the member is contributing at the time of the election.

Coming under Act

(2) A person who, after the coming into force of this section, becomes a member of the House of Commons in the thirty-fifth Parliament may, within sixty days after the first day on which that House is sitting after that person becomes a member, elect in accordance with subsection 56(2) to contribute, from the day on which the person becomes a member, under such of subsections 9(1) and (2), 12(2), 31(1), (2) and (3) and 34(2) and section 47 as are otherwise applicable to the person.

Exception

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to a person who was entitled to make an election under subsection (1) and did not do so.

Irrevocable

(4) An election under this section is irrevocable.

Deemed election

(5) For the purposes of this Act,

    (a) a member who, being entitled to make an election under subsection (1), dies before doing so is deemed to have elected immediately before the death to continue to contribute under all those provisions under which the member was contributing at that time; and

    (b) a person who, being entitled to make an election under subsection (2), dies before doing so is deemed to have elected immediately before the death to contribute under such of the provisions of this Act as would otherwise be applicable to the person.

Application of Act to members making election

2.2 This Act continues to apply to a member who makes an election under section 2.1.

Application of Act to members not making election

2.3 (1) Subject to this section and sections 2.4 and 2.5, this Act ceases to apply to a member who, being entitled to make an election under section 2.1, does not do so.

Withdrawal allowance

(2) There shall be paid to a member referred to in subsection (1) a withdrawal allowance, in a lump sum, equal to the aggregate of

    (a) the total amount of the contributions that the member has paid under this Act and Parts I, III and IV of the former Act, and

    (b) the interest on those contributions that the member has paid under section 11 or paragraph 33(1)(c) or (2)(d) of this Act or under section 23 of the former Act.

Reduction

(3) The withdrawal allowance payable to a member who was a member for six or more years before October 25, 1993 shall be reduced by the amount of the contributions, and the interest thereon, that the member has paid in respect of pensionable service as a member before that date.

Interest

(4) Interest shall be paid on the amount of the withdrawal allowance and shall be calculated in accordance with subsection 63(2) as if a reference to paragraphs (2)(a) and (b) were included in paragraph 63(2)(a) and as if the references in that subsection to ``the year in which the person ceased to be a member'' were references to ``the year in which the allowance became payable''.

Application of Act to members not making election who become members again

2.4 (1) This Act recommences to apply to a member referred to in subsection 2.3(1) who ceases to be a member and subsequently becomes a member in the thirty-sixth or any subsequent Parliament.

Restriction on election

(2) A member referred to in subsection (1) may not elect under subsection 10(1) or 32(1) to contribute in respect of any session in respect of which a withdrawal allowance was paid to the member under section 2.3.

Application of Act to members not making election who were vested

2.5 (1) Section 11, subsection 12(3), sections 13, 16, 17, 19 to 26, 33, 35 to 37, 39 to 46 and 48 to 55, subsection 56(2) and sections 57 to 63 of this Act and section 23 of the former Act continue to apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, to a member referred to in subsection 2.3(1) who was a member for six or more years before October 25, 1993.

Presumption

(2) For the purposes of applying the provisions referred to in subsection (1), the member is deemed to have received no sessional indemnity for any period after October 24, 1993.

3. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 19:

No entitlement to allowance

19.1 For greater certainty, a person to whom a withdrawal allowance is paid under section 2.3, 18 or 19 is not entitled to an allowance or other benefit under this Part in respect of the contributions included in calculating the amount of the withdrawal allowance.

1992, c. 46, s. 81

4. Subsection 20(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

Survivor benefits

20. (1) On the death of a member or former member, there shall be paid

    (a) to

      (i) the person who was the spouse of the member or former member immediately before the death and, in the case of a former member, immediately before the time when the former member ceased to be a member, and

      (ii) any person of the opposite sex who establishes that the person was cohabiting in a conjugal relationship with the member or former member for at least one year immediately before the death of the member or former member and, in the case of a former member, that cohabitation commenced before the time when the former member ceased to be a member,

    an allowance equal to three fifths of the basic retirement allowance, but, if more than one person is entitled to an allowance under this paragraph, the total amount of the allowances shall not exceed three fifths of the basic retirement allowance and that total amount shall be apportioned in accordance with subsection (1.1); and

    (b) to each child, an allowance equal to one tenth of the basic retirement allowance or, if the member or former member died leaving no one entitled to an allowance under paragraph (a), two tenths of the basic retirement allowance, but the total amount of the allowances shall not exceed three tenths of the basic retirement allowance or, if the member or former member died leaving no one entitled to an allowance under paragraph (a), eight tenths of the basic retirement allowance.

Apportionme nt

(1.1) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), the total amount shall be apportioned so that

    (a) the spouse receives an amount, if any, equal to the total amount less any amount determined under paragraph (b); and

    (b) the cohabitant receives an amount equal to that proportion of the total amount that the number of years the cohabitant cohabited with the member or former member while a member is of the number of years that the member or former member was a member.

Years

(1.2) In determining a number of years for the purposes of subsection (1.1), part of a year shall be counted as a full year if the part is six or more months and shall be ignored if it is less.

5. (1) Subsections 23(1) and (2) of the Act, as enacted by section 81 of An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to pensions and to enact the Special Retirement Arrangements Act and the Pension Benefits Division Act, chapter 46 of the Statutes of Canada, 1992, are replaced by the following:

Election for joint and survivor benefit

23. (1) A former member who is entitled to a retirement allowance or additional retirement allowance under this Part or a compensation allowance or additional compensation allowance under Part II and who has a spouse to whom, in the event of that former member's death, no allowance would be paid pursuant to paragraph 20(1)(a) or 40(1)(a) may elect, subject to the regulations and in accordance with subsection 56(2), to receive, instead of all future payments of the aggregate of those allowances, a joint and survivor benefit in an amount determined in accordance with subsection (2).

Election for both Parts

(1.1) No election may be made by a former member under subsection (1), unless the former member makes an election under subsection 43(1), if applicable, at the same time.

Adjustment

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the amount of the joint and survivor benefit is determined by adjusting in accordance with the regulations the aggregate of the allowances referred to in that subsection to which the former member is entitled at the time of the election, but the actuarial present value of the joint and survivor benefit may not be less than the actuarial present value of that aggregate.

Revocation

(2.1) An election under subsection (1) is irrevocable except under such circumstances and such terms and conditions as are prescribed.

(2) Subsection 23(4) of the Act, as enacted by section 81 of An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to pensions and to enact the Special Retirement Arrangements Act and the Pension Benefits Division Act, chapter 46 of the Statutes of Canada, 1992, is replaced by the following:

Survivor benefit

(4) Except where an election under subsection (1) is revoked or deemed to be revoked, on the death of the former member there shall be paid to the person who was the spouse of the former member at the time of the election and the time of the death a joint and survivor benefit in an amount determined in accordance with the regulations.

1992, c. 46, s. 81

6. Paragraph 24(b) of the Act is replaced by the following:

    (b) in the case of an allowance under paragraph 20(1)(a) or a joint and survivor benefit payable to the spouse, continues during the lifetime of the recipient.

1992, c. 46, s. 81

7. (1) Subparagraphs 31(1)(a)(i) and (ii) of the Act are replaced by the following:

      (i) if the member has not reached seventy-one years of age, five per cent, or

      (ii) if the member has reached seventy-one years of age, nine per cent, and

1992, c. 46, s. 81

(2) Paragraphs 31(2)(a) and (b) of the Act are replaced by the following:

    (a) if the member has not reached seventy-one years of age, five per cent, or

    (b) if the member has reached seventy-one years of age, nine per cent

1992, c. 46, s. 81

(3) The portion of subsection 31(3) of the Act following paragraph (b) is replaced by the following:

that member shall not contribute under that paragraph on the excess amount, but shall instead, by reservation from that salary or annual allowance, contribute to the Compensation Arrangements Account nine per cent of the excess amount.

1992, c. 46, s. 81

8. (1) Paragraph 33(1)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:

    (a) in the case of a member who, before the day on which this paragraph comes into force, makes an election under subsection 32(1) in respect of amounts paid as a member of the House of Commons, a contribution equal to seven per cent if the member has not reached seventy-one years of age at the time of the making of the election, or equal to eleven per cent if the member has reached that age at that time, of the aggregate of amounts paid to the member as a member of the House of Commons in respect of that previous session

      (i) by way of sessional indemnity, and

      (ii) by way of salary or annual allowance, if the member so elects to contribute in respect of that salary or annual allowance;

    (a.1) in the case of a member who, on or after the day on which this paragraph comes into force, makes an election under subsection 32(1) in respect of amounts paid as a member of the House of Commons, a contribution equal to five per cent if the member has not reached seventy-one years of age at the time of the making of the election, or equal to nine per cent if the member has reached that age at that time, of the aggregate of amounts paid to the member as a member of the House of Commons in respect of that previous session

      (i) by way of sessional indemnity, and

      (ii) by way of salary or annual allowance, if the member so elects to contribute in respect of that salary or annual allowance;

1992, c. 46, s. 81

(2) Paragraph 33(1)(b) of the Act is amended by striking out the word ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (i) and by replacing subparagraph (ii) with the following:

      (ii) where the election was made before the day on which this subparagraph comes into force, a contribution equal to seven per cent if the member has not reached seventy-one years of age at the time of the making of the election, or equal to eleven per cent if the member has reached that age at that time, of the aggregate of amounts paid to that member as a member of the Senate in respect of that previous session by way of salary or annual allowance, if the member so elects to contribute in respect of that salary or annual allowance under this subparagraph and, where applicable, subsection (2), and

      (iii) where the election was made on or after the day on which this subparagraph comes into force, a contribution equal to five per cent if the member has not reached seventy-one years of age at the time of the making of the election, or equal to nine per cent if the member has reached that age at that time, of the aggregate of amounts paid to that member as a member of the Senate in respect of that previous session by way of salary or annual allowance, if the member so elects to contribute in respect of that salary or annual allowance under this subparagraph and, where applicable, subsection (2); and

1992, c. 46, s. 81

(3) Paragraph 33(2)(c) of the Act is replaced by the following:

    (c) in the case of an election made before the day on which this paragraph comes into force, a contribution equal to eleven per cent of the excess amount and, in the case of an election made on or after that day, a contribution equal to nine per cent of the excess amount, and

9. (1) Section 36 is renumbered as subsection 36(1).

1992, c. 46, s. 81

(2) Paragraphs 36(1)(a) and (b) of the Act are replaced by the following:

    (a) in respect of contributions made as a member of the House of Commons,

      (i) where the person has not reached sixty years of age,

        (A) 0.05 for the years or portions of years of pensionable service calculated by reference to those contributions made, or in respect of which an election was made, on or after January 1, 1992 and before the day on which this paragraph comes into force, and

        (B) 0.04 for the years or portions of years of pensionable service calculated by reference to those contributions made, otherwise than pursuant to an election referred to in clause (A), on or after the day on which this paragraph comes into force,

      (ii) subject to subparagraph (iii), where the person has reached sixty years of age,

        (A) 0.03 for the years or portions of years of pensionable service calculated by reference to those contributions made, or in respect of which an election was made, on or after January 1, 1992 and before the day on which this paragraph comes into force, and

        (B) 0.02 for the years or portions of years of pensionable service calculated by reference to those contributions made, otherwise than pursuant to an election referred to in clause (A), on or after the day on which this paragraph comes into force, and

      (iii) where the person has reached seventy-one years of age and contributed thereafter,

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