Bill C-46 · 41th Parliament · Stephen Harper
Pension Reform Act
An Act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act
Government bill. Became law.
- IntroducedOct. 19, 2012
- Debated in principleOct. 19, 2012
- Studied by a committeeDone
- Passed its first chamberOct. 19, 2012
- Passed the second chamberOct. 30, 2012
- Became lawOct. 31, 2012
Leading supporters
Ranked by the part each played: who is responsible for the bill, who carried it, and who spoke for it most.
- Stephen HarperPrime Minister
- Elizabeth (Beth) MarshallSenate · Sponsor in the Senate
Who carries this bill
Arrows run from the person responsible to those who answer to them on this bill. The critic leads the Senate’s scrutiny and answers to no one on it.
What it set out to do
The Library of Parliament does not prepare Legislative Summaries for bills debated under urgency and emergency. The following is a short summary: Clauses 475 to 514 of Bill C-45, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures, as originally proposed, would have amended the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, proposing several changes to the pension regime for members of Parliament. On 19 October 2012, through unanimous consent, the House of Commons passed an order extracting those clauses from Bill C-45, and creating a new bill, Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act. As part of this order, Bill C-46 was deemed to have passed all legislative stages in the House. The changes to the pension regime in what is now Bill C-46 include a change in the rates at which a member of Parliament contributes to his or her pension benefits, such that not later than 1 January 2017, the total amount of contributions to be paid by members will increase to meet 50% of the current service cost of benefits payable. Amendments also raise the retirement age of members from 55 to 65, with r…
Summary by the Library of Parliament.
Where members stand
Votes and debate for this bill have not been read yet.
How it changed on the way
The texts have not been compared yet.
How precisely it is written
mostly preciseChallenging the law: HardDisputing a charge: Moderate
The bill relies on many defined terms, fixed percentages such as 0.75 and 50 percent, year-specific rates, and arithmetic formulas that produce objective results. A few provisions still turn on the Minister’s opinion or the Chief Actuary’s discretionary fixing of numbers.
Open to argument
“an amount that, in the Minister's opinion, based on actuarial advice, together with the amount estimated by the Minister to be to the credit of that Account at that time, is necessary to meet the total cost”
The phrase substitutes the Minister’s subjective judgment for a mechanical test.“The Chief Actuary may, taking into account the percentage fixed for the purposes of subsection 17.1(2), fix a number”
The word 'may' and the open-ended reference to 'taking into account' leave the exact figure to administrative choice.
Clear-cut
“for 2013, 4%; (b) for 2014, 5%; and (c) for 2015, 6%”
Calendar-year-specific rates stated as exact percentages remove interpretive range.“The date specified by the person shall not be earlier than the person's 55th birthday”
A bright-line age threshold that can be verified without further judgment.
Discretion. The Minister decides the timing, manner and exact amounts to be credited or debited from the two accounts and the Chief Actuary chooses contribution rates and one auxiliary number after 2015.
Challenging the law itself. Detailed formulas and defined terms leave little room for a successful vagueness or overbreadth argument under s. 7 of the Charter.
Disputing a charge under it. Most contribution and benefit calculations rest on verifiable arithmetic, but disputes could still arise over the Minister’s or Chief Actuary’s discretionary inputs.
Read by a language model from the royal assent text; every quoted phrase appears in the bill. A reading of the drafting, not legal advice.
Did it work?
no evaluation found
Who lobbied on it
No lobbying registration naming this bill is loaded.
Stages and dates from LEGISinfo.