Bill C-43

AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT

Financial Administration Act

132. Section 7.1 of the Financial Administration Act is replaced by the following:

7.1 (1) The Treasury Board may establish or modify any group insurance or other benefit programs for employees of the public service of Canada and any other persons or classes of persons it may designate to be members of those programs, may take any measure necessary for that purpose, including contracting for services, may set any terms and conditions in respect of those programs, including those relating to premiums, contributions, benefits, management, control and expenditures and may audit and make payments in respect of those programs, including payments relating to premiums, contributions, benefits and other expenditures.

(2) This Act, other than this section, does not apply to any contributions or other payments made or premiums paid by the Treasury Board or the members in respect of any program established or modified pursuant to subsection (1) or any benefits received by the members of such a program.

7.2 (1) On the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service, the President of the Treasury Board may issue letters patent of incorporation that take effect on the date stated in them for a corporation without share capital that is charged with the administration of any group insurance or benefit program described in subsection 7.1(1).

(2) The letters patent must set out

(a) the name of the corporation;

(b) the programs described in subsection 7.1(1) in respect of which the corporation is charged with the administration;

(c) the objects and powers of the corporation necessary for it to fulfil its purpose under subsection (1);

(d) the appointment and the operations of the corporation’s board of directors;

(e) the corporation’s reporting obligations;

(f) the corporation’s obligations with respect to audits of its accounts and financial transactions by an independent auditor;

(g) the code of conduct for the corporation’s directors and officers; and

(h) any other provision that is necessary to fulfil the corporation’s purpose.

(3) The President of the Treasury Board may, on the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service, after consulting with the board of directors, issue supplementary letters patent amending the corporation’s letters patent and the supplementary letters patent take effect on the date stated in them.

(4) The corporation’s letters patent and supplementary letters patent are not regulations within the meaning of the Statutory Instruments Act. However, they must be published in the Canada Gazette.

(5) The corporation has, subject to its letters patent and this Act, the capacity of a natural person.

(6) The corporation is neither a Crown corporation nor an agent of Her Majesty.

7.3 The corporation’s board of directors consists of

(a) one director appointed by the President of the Treasury Board, on the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service, who is the chairperson;

(b) one director appointed by the President of the Treasury Board, on the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service, who, in the opinion of the President, represents the pensioners;

(c) four directors appointed by the President of the Treasury Board; and

(d) four directors appointed by that portion of the National Joint Council of the Public Service that represents the employees.

7.4 The Treasury Board may make regulations respecting the governance of the corporation, including regulations that adapt any provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Canada Corporations Act and any regulations made under those Acts for the purpose of applying those provisions as adapted to the corporation.

133. The English version of the Act is amended by replacing the expression “chairman” with the expression “chairperson” wherever it occurs in the following provisions:

(a) the definition “chairman” in subsection 83(1);

(b) subsection 102(2);

(c) section 106;

(d) subsection 107(1);

(e) section 108; and

(f) section 154.

Coordinating Amendments

134. On the later of the coming into force of section 7 of the Public Service Modernization Act, chapter 22 of the Statutes of Canada, 2003, and the coming into force of section 132 of this Act, subsection 7.1(1) of the English version of the Financial Administration Act is replaced by the following:

7.1 (1) The Treasury Board may establish or modify any group insurance or other benefit programs for employees of the federal public administration and any other persons or classes of persons it may designate to be members of those programs, may take any measure necessary for that purpose, including contracting for services, may set any terms and conditions in respect of those programs, including those relating to premiums, contributions, benefits, management, control and expenditures and may audit and make payments in respect of those programs, including payments relating to premiums, contributions, benefits and other expenditures.

135. If Bill C-21, introduced in the first session of the thirty-eighth Parliament and entitled the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (in this section referred to as the “other Act”), receives royal assent, then, on the later of the coming into force of section 132 of this Act and section 307 of the other Act, section 7.4 of the Financial Administration Act is replaced by the following:

7.4 The Treasury Board may make regulations respecting the governance of the corporation, including regulations that adapt any provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act and any regulations made under those Acts for the purpose of applying those provisions as adapted to the corporation.

PART 22

AMENDMENTS TO THE OLD AGE SECURITY ACT

136. Subsections 12(1) and (2) of the Old Age Security Act are replaced by the following:

12. (1) The amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the payment quarter commencing on April 1, 2005 is,

(a) in the case of a person other than a person described in paragraph (b), five hundred and sixty-two dollars and ninety-three cents, and

(b) in the case of a person who, on the day immediately before that payment quarter, had a spouse or common-law partner to whom a pension may be paid for any month in that payment quarter,

(i) in respect of any month in that payment quarter before the first month for which a pension may be paid to the spouse or common-law partner, five hundred and sixty-two dollars and ninety-three cents, and

(ii) in respect of any month in that payment quarter commencing with the first month for which a pension may be paid to the spouse or common-law partner, three hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents,

minus one dollar for each full two dollars of the pensioner’s monthly base income.

(1.1) The amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 2006 is the amount of the supplement that would otherwise be payable plus

(a) eighteen dollars, in the case of a person described in paragraph (1)(a) or subparagraph (1)(b)(i); and

(b) fourteen dollars and fifty cents, in the case of a person described in subparagraph (1)(b)(ii).

(1.2) The amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 2007 is the amount of the supplement that would otherwise be payable plus

(a) eighteen dollars, in the case of a person described in paragraph (1)(a) or subparagraph (1)(b)(i); and

(b) fourteen dollars and fifty cents, in the case of a person described subparagraph (1)(b)(ii).

(2) Subject to subsections (1.1) and (1.2), the amount of the supplement that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in any payment quarter commencing after June 30, 2005 is the amount obtained by multiplying

(a) the maximum amount of the supplement that might have been paid to the pensioner for any month in the three-month period immediately before that payment quarter

by

(b) the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter bears to the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter,

minus one dollar for each full two dollars of the pensioner’s monthly base income.

137. (1) The definitions “supplement equivalent” and “supplement equivalent for the survivor” in subsection 22(1) of the Act are replaced by the following:

“supplement equivalent” means, in respect of any month in a payment quarter, the amount of the supplement that would be payable for that month under subsection 12(1), (1.1), (1.2), (2), (3) or (4), as the case may be, to a pensioner whose spouse or common-law partner is also a pensioner when both the pensioner and the spouse or common-law partner have no income in the base calendar year and both are in receipt of a full pension;

“supplement equivalent for the survivor” means, in respect of any month in a payment quarter, the amount determined under subsection (4.1), (4.2), (4.3) or (4.4), as the case may be.

(2) Section 22 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (4):

(4.1) The amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor is

(a) four hundred and fifty-four dollars and nine cents, for any month in the payment quarter commencing on April 1, 2005;

(b) the amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor that would otherwise be payable plus eighteen dollars, for any month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 2006; and

(c) the amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor that would otherwise be payable plus eighteen dollars, for any month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 2007.

(4.2) Subject to paragraphs (4.1)(b) and (c), the amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor for any month in a payment quarter commencing after June 30, 2005 is the amount obtained by multiplying

(a) the amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor for any month in the three-month period immediately before that payment quarter

by

(b) the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter bears to the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter.

(4.3) Despite subsection (4.2), the amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor for any month in a payment quarter may not be less than the amount of the supplement equivalent for the survivor for any month in the three-month period immediately before that payment quarter.

(4.4) If, in relation to any payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter is lower than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter,

(a) no adjustment of the supplement equivalent for the survivor is to be made under subsection (4.2) in respect of that payment quarter; and

(b) no adjustment of the supplement equivalent for the survivor is to be made under that subsection in respect of any subsequent payment quarter until, in relation to a subsequent payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter is higher than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in paragraph (a), in which case the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in that paragraph is deemed to be the second adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter.

PART 23

PAYMENTS TO CERTAIN PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES

Payment to Quebec

138. (1) For the purposes of giving effect to the Canada–Quebec Final Agreement on the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan and to support its implementation, the Minister of Finance may make a cash payment of two hundred million dollars to Quebec.

(2) Any amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the time and in the manner that the Minister of Finance considers appropriate.

Payment to British Columbia

139. (1) The Minister of Finance may make a cash payment of one hundred million dollars to British Columbia to assist the province in meeting the costs arising from the mountain pine beetle infestation, including the costs of damages caused by the infestation and of measures to combat the spread of the infestation.

(2) Any amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the time and in the manner that the Minister of Finance considers appropriate.

Payment to Saskatchewan

140. (1) The Minister of Finance may make a cash payment of six million and five hundred thousand dollars to Saskatchewan.

(2) Any amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the time and in the manner that the Minister of Finance considers appropriate.

Payment to Yukon

141. (1) The Minister of Finance may make a cash payment of thirteen million and seven hundred thousand dollars to Yukon.

(2) Any amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the time and in the manner that the Minister of Finance considers appropriate.

Payment to the Northwest Territories

142. (1) The Minister of Finance may make a cash payment of twenty two million and five hundred thousand dollars to the Northwest Territories.

(2) Any amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the time and in the manner that the Minister of Finance considers appropriate.

Payment to Nunavut

143. (1) The Minister of Finance may make a cash payment of twenty one million and eight hundred thousand dollars to Nunavut.

(2) Any amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the time and in the manner that the Minister of Finance considers appropriate.