Workers' Pension Bill of Rights, 1996
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The Bill would require pension plans to be administered by a pension committee or board of trustees that meets all of the following qualifications:
1. At least half of the members of the pension committee or board of trustees must be representatives of members of the pension plan.
2. The pension committee or board of trustees must include at least one representative of each class of members of the pension plan and, if a majority of a class of members is represented by a trade union, the representative or representatives of the class must be appointed by the trade union.
3. If there are persons who are receiving pensions under the pension plan, the pension committee or board of trustees must include at least one representative of those persons.
4. A majority of the representatives of the members of the pension plan must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.
Other kinds of administrators would be permitted only with the approval of a trade union representing a majority of the members of the plan.
Bill1996
An Act to make Pension Plans accountable to Workers
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
1. Section 8 of the Pension Benefits Act is repealed and the following substituted:
Administrator
8. (1) Despite any other Act, a pension plan shall be administered by, and is not eligible for registration unless it is administered by, an administrator that is a pension committee or board of trustees that meets all of the following qualifications:
1. At least half of the members of the pension committee or board of trustees must be representatives of members of the pension plan.
2. The pension committee or board of trustees must include at least one representative of each class of members of the pension plan and, if a majority of a class of members is represented by a trade union, the representative or representatives of the class must be appointed by the trade union.
3. If there are persons who are receiving pensions under the pension plan, the pension committee or board of trustees must include at least one representative of those persons.
4. A majority of the representatives of the members of the pension plan must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.
Same
(2) Despite subsection (1), if a majority of the members of a pension plan are represented by a trade union, the pension plan, with the approval of the trade union, may be administered by, and is eligible for registration if it is administered by, an administrator that is,
(a) the employer or employers;
(b) a pension committee that does not meet the qualifications set out in subsection (1) and that is composed of one or more representatives of,
(i) the employer or employers, or any person, other than the employer or employers, required to make contributions under the pension plan, and
(ii) members of the pension plan;
(c) a pension committee that does not meet the qualifications set out in subsection (1) and that is composed of representatives of members of the pension plan;
(d) the insurance company that provides the pension benefits under the pension plan, if all the pension benefits under the pension plan are guaranteed by the insurance company; or
(e) in the case of a multi-employer pension plan established pursuant to a collective agreement or a trust agreement, a board of trustees that does not meet the qualifications set out in subsection (1) and that is appointed pursuant to the pension plan or a trust agreement establishing the pension plan, if,
(i) at least half of the members of the board of trustees are representatives of members of the pension plan, and
(ii) a majority of the representatives of the members of the pension plan are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.
Affiliate
(3) For the purpose of clause (2) (b), "employer" includes "affiliate" as defined in the Business Corporations Act, if the employer is a body corporate.
Transition
(4) This section does not apply to a pension plan that was registered before the Workers' Pension Bill of Rights, 1996 came into force until the first anniversary of the coming into force of that Act.
2. (1) Subsection 22 (3) of the Act is amended by striking out "and to a member of a board, agency or commission made responsible by an Act of the Legislature for the administration of a pension plan" in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh lines.
(2) Subsection 22 (10) of the Act is amended by striking out "and to a member of a board, agency or commission made responsible by an Act of the Legislature for the administration of a pension plan" in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh lines.
3. Clause 24 (6) (a) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:
(a) if the administrator of the pension plan is a pension committee or board of trustees that meets the qualifications set out in subsection 8 (1); or
. . . . .
Commencement
4. (1) This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Same
(2) Despite subsection (1), section 2 comes into force on the first anniversary of the day this Act receives Royal Assent.
Short title
5. The short title of this Act is the Workers' Pension Bill of Rights, 1996.