Bill C-31

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Royal Assent

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	PART III
	UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
R.S., c. U-1	Unemployment Insurance Act
	*42. Section 13 of the Unemployment Insurance Act* is deemed to have been amended on January 1, 1996 by adding the following after subsection (3):**
Maximum rate for 1996	(4) Notwithstanding subsections (1) to (3), the maximum rate of weekly benefit payable to a claimant whose benefit period begins in 1996 is $413.
	43. Section 47 of the Act is deemed to have been renumbered on January 1, 1996 as subsection 47(1) and is deemed to have been amended on that date by adding the following:
Maximum for 1996	(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the maximum weekly insurable earnings for 1996 is $750.
Transitional provision - reconside- ration of claims	44. (1) If benefits are paid for a week of unemployment beginning after December 31, 1995 but before this section comes into force, no claim for those benefits shall be reconsidered under section 43 of the Unemployment Insurance Act on the basis of the amendments made by this Act.
Transitional provision - backdated claims	(2) If a claim for benefits described in subsection 9(4) or (4.1) of the Unemployment Insurance Act is for a week of unemployment beginning after December 31, 1995 but before this section comes into force, the claim for that week shall be dealt with as if sections 42 and 43 of this Act had not come into force.
Transitional provision - rate of benefits	45. No rate of weekly benefits established under paragraph 13(1)(b) of the Unemployment Insurance Act for a benefit period beginning after December 31, 1995 but before this section comes into force shall be reduced on the basis of the amendments made by this Act.
Transitional provision - average weekly insurable earnings	46. In determining a claimant's average weekly insurable earnings for the purposes of section 13 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, the claimant's insurable earnings for a week of insurable employment after December 31, 1995 but before this section comes into force are deemed to be $845 if the claimant's insurable earnings during that week are at least $750 and the claimant's benefit period begins after December 31, 1995 but before this section comes into force.


Coming into force of sections 42 to 46	47. Sections 42 to 46 come into force on the second Sunday after the day on which this Act receives royal assent.
	PART IV
	CANADA HEALTH AND SOCIAL TRANSFER
R.S., c. F-8; 1995, c. 17, s. 45(1)	Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act
	*48. Section 2 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act* is amended by adding the following after subsection (3):**
Determi- nation of gross domestic product	(3.1) For the purposes of this Act, the gross domestic product of Canada for a calendar year is the gross domestic product of Canada for the year as determined by the Chief Statistician of Canada in prescribed manner.
R.S., c. 26 (2nd Supp.), s. 1; 1995, c. 17, s. 48	49. Section 15 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Total entitlement for Canada for '96-97 and '97-98 years	15. (1) The total entitlement in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer applicable to the whole of Canada
	(a) for the 1996-97 fiscal year is $26.9 billion; and
	(b) for the 1997-98 fiscal year is $25.1 billion.
Five year funding arrangement	(2) The total entitlement in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer applicable to the whole of Canada
	(a) for each of the 1998-99 and the 1999-2000 fiscal years is $25.1 billion; and
	(b) for each of the 2000-01 to 2002-03 fiscal years is the amount determined by the formula
	A x (B - C)
	where
	A is the total entitlement that was determined under this subsection for the immediately preceding fiscal year,
	B is the cube root of the quotient obtained by dividing
	(i) the gross domestic product of Canada for the calendar year ending in the immediately preceding fiscal year
	by
	(ii) the gross domestic product of Canada for the calendar year ending in the fourth preceding fiscal year, and
	C is
	(i) 0.02 for the 2000-01 fiscal year,
	(ii) 0.015 for the 2001-02 fiscal year, and
	(iii) 0.01 for the 2002-03 fiscal year.
Floor for cash portion of total entitlement	(3) Where in any of the 1998-99 to 2002-03 fiscal years the sum of $11 billion and the total of all equalized tax transfers applicable to all provinces calculated under section 16 for that fiscal year exceeds the total entitlement determined under subsection (2) for that fiscal year, the total entitlement in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer applicable to the whole of Canada for that fiscal year shall be increased by the amount of that excess.
Provincial entitlements for '96-97 fiscal year	(4) The total entitlement in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer applicable to a province for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 1996 is the amount as determined by the Minister, equal to the product obtained by multiplying
	(a) 26.9 billion dollars
	by
	(b) the quotient obtained by dividing
	(i) the province's total entitlements in respect of the sum of the amounts established under subsections 15(1) and (2) and sections 23 and 23.1, as they read on March 31, 1996, in respect of the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 1995 and the contributions payable under the Canada Assistance Plan in respect of the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 1994
	by
	(ii) the total of the total entitlements referred to in subparagraph (i) of all the provinces.
Provincial entitlements for the '97-98 to 2002-03 fiscal years	(5) The total entitlement in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer applicable to a province for each of the 1997-98 to 2002-03 fiscal years is the amount determined by the formula
	F x [(G x H/J) + (1 - G) x K/L]
	where
	F is the total entitlement in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer applicable to the whole of Canada for the fiscal year determined under subsections (1) to (3);
	G is
	(a) 1 for the 1997-98 fiscal year,
	(b) 0.9 for the 1998-99 fiscal year,
	(c) 0.8 for the 1999-2000 fiscal year,
	(d) 0.7 for the 2000-01 fiscal year,
	(e) 0.6 for the 2001-02 fiscal year, and
	(f) 0.5 for the 2002-03 fiscal year;
	H is the product obtained by multiplying
	(a) the total entitlements referred to in subparagraph (4)(b)(i) in respect of the province
	by
	(b) the quotient obtained by dividing
	(i) the population of the province for the fiscal year
	by
	(ii) the population of the province for the 1995-96 fiscal year;
	J is the total of all the values of H for the fiscal year in respect of all provinces;
	K is the population of the province for the fiscal year; and
	L is the total of the population of all provinces for the fiscal year.
	PART V
	OLD AGE SECURITY
R.S., c. O-9	Old Age Security Act
	*50. Section 2 of the Old Age Security Act* is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:**
``special qualifying factor'' « facteur d'admissibi- lité »	``special qualifying factor'' of a person for a month before April 1996 means one and for a month after March 1996 means
	(a) one, where the person is not a specially qualified individual, and
	(b) where the person is a specially qualified individual, the fraction of which
	(i) the numerator is the aggregate period (expressed in the number of years and, where the number of years is not a whole number, rounded down to the next lower whole number) as of the last day of the immediately preceding month, during which the individual has resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age, and
	(ii) the denominator is 10;
``specially qualified individual'' « particulier déterminé »	``specially qualified individual'' means a person who has not resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age for an aggregate period of ten or more years other than such a person to whom a pension or spouse's allowance was payable
	(a) for the month of March 1996 or an earlier month, or
	(b) for the month of January 2001 or an earlier month, where, before March 7, 1996, the person was residing in Canada as a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration Act;
	51. (1) Subsection 11(7) of the Act is amended by striking out the word ``or'' at the end of paragraph (c), by adding the word ``or'' at the end of paragraph (d) and by adding the following after paragraph (d);
	(e) any month during which the pensioner 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.
	(2) Section 11 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (7):
Application of para. (7)(e)	(8) Paragraph (7)(e) does not apply to a pensioner where an event as provided by the regulations has occurred.
	52. (1) Subsection 12(5) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Guaranteed minimum income for pensioners	(5) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in a payment quarter commencing after December 1984 is the amount determined by the formula
	[(A - B) x C] - D/2
	where
	A is the aggregate of
	(a) the maximum amount of the supplement that, but for this subsection, might have been paid to the pensioner for that month, and
	(b) the amount of the full monthly pension;
	B is the pensioner's monthly pension;
	C is the pensioner's special qualifying factor for the month; and
	D is the pensioner's monthly base income rounded, where it is not a multiple of two dollars, to the next lower multiple of two dollars.
	(2) Section 12 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (5):
Enhance- ment of supplement for certain married pensioners	(5.1) Where the aggregate of the pensions and supplements payable for a month to two pensioners each of whom is the other's spouse is less than the aggregate of the pension and supplement that would be payable for that month to one of them if the other were not a pensioner, the Minister may, notwithstanding subsection (2), pay to one of them for that month
	(a) the amount of supplement that would be payable for that month to that pensioner, if the other were not a pensioner,
	minus