Vol. 146, No. 1 — January 4, 2012

Registration

SI/2011-115 January 4, 2012

SUSTAINING CANADA’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT

Order Fixing December 31, 2011 as the Day on which Sections 174 and 175 of the Act Come into Force

P.C. 2011-1668 December 15, 2011

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, pursuant to section 178 of the Sustaining Canada’s Economic Recovery Act, chapter 25 of the Statutes of Canada, 2010, hereby fixes December 31, 2011 as the day on which sections 174 and 175 of that Act come into force.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order.)

Proposal

To fix December 31, 2011, as the day on which sections 174 and 175 of the Sustaining Canada’s Economic Recovery Act, chapter 25 of the Statutes of Canada, 2010, come into force. Those provisions amend the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act (OSFI Act).

Objective

These amendments seek to harmonize provisions for the Superintendent to recover costs from pension plans with those in place for federal financial institutions by setting them out in the OSFI Act rather than the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (PBSA).

Background

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) operates on a cost-recovery basis and receives less than 1% of its revenues from parliamentary appropriations. The costs of administering the PBSA are fully recovered from the pension industry; details regarding the frequency of assessments and the manner in which they are determined are prescribed in regulations.

The authority for OSFI to recover costs to administer the PBSA through the annual assessment of federally registered private pension plans was transferred from the PBSA to the OSFI Act through Bill C-47, the Sustaining Canada’s Economic Recovery Act that received Royal Assent on December 15, 2010. The Bill included a number of amendments to the PBSA and the OSFI Act. The majority of these amendments came into force with Royal Assent in 2010. However, some enabling provisions require that regulations be brought into force together with the Order in Council fixing the effective date of the amendment. The subject amendments to the OSFI Act require regulations that come into force on the date fixed by a separate order of the Governor in Council.

Implications

The amendments to the OSFI Act brought into force on December 31, 2011, with this Order in Council move the authority to collect annual assessment of pension plans from the PBSA to the OSFI Act. The related Assessment of Pension Plans Regulations support the move and set out the formula used to determine the annual assessments.

Consultations

The implementation of the amendments to the PBSA and the OSFI Act made through Bill C-47 are the result of a wide consultation conducted in 2009 by the Department of Finance. The amendments to the Assessment of Pension Plans Regulations under the authority of the OSFI Act were posted in the Canada Gazette, Part Ⅰ, for comments on October 1, 2011. No comments were received.

Departmental contact

Pirjo Davitt
Manager
Private Pension Plans Division
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
255 Albert Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H2
Email: pirjo.davitt@osfi-bsif.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-990-8053
Fax: 613-990-7394