C-8

An Act to establish a comprehensive program of old age pensions and supplementary benefits in Canada payable to and in respect of contributors

1. This Act may be cited as the Canada Pension Plan.

R.S., c. C-5, s. 1.

2. (1) In this Act,

“applicant” means, in Part II,

(a) a person or an estate that has applied for a benefit,

(b) a person who has applied for a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or paragraph 55.1(1)(b) or (c), or

(c) a person in respect of whom a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings has been approved under paragraph 55.1(1)(a);

“average monthly pensionable earnings” of a person means an amount calculated in accordance with section 47 or 48;

“balance-due day” of a person for a year means

(a) where the person died after October in the year and before May in the immediately following year, the day that is 6 months after the day of death, and

(b) in any other case, April 30 in the immediately following year;

“basic exemption” of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 19;

“beneficiary” means a person, estate or other body to whom a benefit has become payable;

“benefit” means a benefit payable under this Act and includes a pension;

“business” includes a profession, calling, trade, manufacture or undertaking of any kind whatever, and includes an adventure or concern in the nature of trade but does not include an office or employment;

“common-law partner”, in relation to a contributor, means a person who is cohabiting with the contributor in a conjugal relationship at the relevant time, having so cohabited with the contributor for a continuous period of at least one year. For greater certainty, in the case of a contributor’s death, the “relevant time” means the time of the contributor’s death.

“Consumer Price Index” means the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act;

“contribution” means a contribution under this Act;

“contribution rate”, in respect of an employee, an employer and a self-employed person for a year, means the contribution rate for that employee, employer and self-employed person for the year determined in accordance with or pursuant to this Act;

“contributor” means a person who has made an employee’s contribution or a contribution in respect of his self-employed earnings, and includes a person the amount of whose earnings on which a contribution has been made for a year under this Act calculated as provided in subparagraph 53(b)(i) exceeds zero and a person to whom unadjusted pensionable earnings have been attributed under section 55, 55.1 or 55.2;

“contributory period” of a contributor has, subject to paragraph 44(2)(b) and subsection 56(5), the meaning assigned by section 49;

“contributory salary and wages” of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 12;

“contributory self-employed earnings” of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 13;

“deduct” includes withhold;

“disabled” has the meaning assigned by section 42;

“employee” includes an officer;

“employer” means a person liable to pay salary, wages or other remuneration for services performed in employment, and in relation to an officer includes the person from whom the officer receives his remuneration;

“employment” means the performance of services under an express or implied contract of service or apprenticeship, and includes the tenure of an office;

“excepted employment” means employment specified in subsection 6(2);

“maximum contributory earnings” of a person for a year has the meaning assigned by section 16;

“maximum pensionable earnings” of a person for a year has the meaning assigned by section 17;

“office” means the position of an individual entitling him to a fixed or ascertainable stipend or remuneration and includes a judicial office, the office of a minister of the Crown, the office of a lieutenant governor, the office of a member of the Senate or House of Commons, a member of a legislative assembly or a member of a legislative or executive council and any other office the incumbent of which is elected by popular vote or is elected or appointed in a representative capacity, and also includes the position of a corporation director, and “officer” means a person holding such an office;

“pension” means a pension payable under this Act;

“Pension Appeals Board” means the Pension Appeals Board established under section 83;

“Pension Index” has the meaning assigned by section 43;

“pensionable employment” means employment specified in subsection 6(1);

“prescribed” means

(a) in the case of a form or the information to be given on a form, authorized by the Minister having the control and direction of the administration of the Part of this Act to which the context extends, and

(b) in any other case, prescribed by regulation or determined in accordance with rules prescribed by regulation;

“Record of Earnings” means the Record of Earnings established under section 95;

“representative” means, in respect of any person, a guardian, curator, committee, executor, liquidator of a succession, administrator or other legal representative of that person;

[Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 1]

“Review Tribunal” means a Canada Pension Plan — Old Age Security Review Tribunal established under section 82;

“salary and wages on which a contribution has been made” for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 15;

“self-employed earnings” of a person for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 14;

“Social Insurance Number” means a Social Insurance Number assigned to an individual under the authority of any Act of Parliament, and “Social Insurance Number Card” means a Social Insurance Number Card issued to an individual under that authority;

[Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 42]

“total pensionable earnings” of a contributor means an amount calculated in accordance with section 50;

“total pensionable earnings of a contributor attributable to contributions made under this Act” means an amount calculated in accordance with section 78;

“unadjusted pensionable earnings” of a contributor for a year means an amount calculated in accordance with section 53;

“year” means a calendar year;

“Year’s Basic Exemption” has the meaning assigned by section 20;

“Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings” has the meaning assigned by section 18.

(2) For the purposes of any provision of this Act in which reference is made to the reaching by a person of a specified age, other than a reference in paragraph 44(3)(a), section 70 and paragraph 72(c), the person shall be deemed to have reached the specified age at the beginning of the month following the month in which the person actually reached that age, and in computing

(a) any period of months ending with the time when he reached a specified age, the month in which he actually reached that age shall be included; and

(b) any period of months commencing with the time when he reached a specified age, the month in which he actually reached that age shall not be included.

R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 2; R.S., 1985, c. 30 (2nd Supp.), s. 1, c. 1 (4th Supp.), s. 45(F); 1991, c. 44, s. 1, c. 49, s. 203; 1995, c. 33, s. 25; 2000, c. 12, s. 42; 2004, c. 25, s. 111.

3. (1) In this Act,

“province providing a comprehensive pension plan” means a province prescribed by a regulation made on the recommendation of the Minister of Social Development for the purposes of this Act as a province

(a) the government of which has, on or before May 3, 1965, signified the intention of that province to provide for the establishment and operation in that province, in lieu of the operation therein of this Act, of a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits providing for the making of contributions thereunder commencing with the year 1966 and providing for the payment of benefits thereunder comparable to those provided by this Act, or

(b) the government of which has, at any time after May 3, 1965, given notice in writing to the Minister of Social Development of the intention of that province to provide

(i) for the establishment and operation in that province, in lieu of the operation therein of this Act, of a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits providing for the making of contributions thereunder commencing with the third year following the year in which the notice was given and providing for the payment of benefits thereunder comparable to those then provided by this Act or by any provincial pension plan other than that plan, and

(ii) for the assumption under that plan of all obligations and liabilities accrued or accruing to the first day of that third year with respect to the payment of benefits under this Act attributable to contributions made under this Act in respect of employment in that province or in respect of self-employed earnings of persons resident in that province;

“provincial pension plan” means a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits for the establishment and operation of which provision has been made as described in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition “province providing a comprehensive pension plan” under a law of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), where, not later than twelve months before the first day of the third year following the year in which notice in writing as described in paragraph ( b) of the definition “province providing a comprehensive pension plan” in subsection (1) was given to the Minister of Social Development by the government of a province, the legislature of the province has provided by law for the establishment and operation in that province of a plan of old age pensions and supplementary benefits as described in that paragraph and for the assumption under that plan of all obligations and liabilities accrued or accruing as described in that paragraph, the Governor in Council shall, by regulation made on the recommendation of the Minister of Social Development for the purposes of this Act, prescribe that province as a province described in that paragraph.

(3) Any regulation made pursuant to subsection (2) becomes effective on the first day of the third year following the year in which the notice referred to in that subsection was given to the Minister of Social Development.

R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 3; 1996, c. 11, s. 95; 2005, c. 35, s. 67.

4. (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, except as provided in subsection (2),

(a) the provisions of this Act with respect to the making of contributions by employees and employers in respect of pensionable employment and the provisions of Part III with respect to employees in pensionable employment do not apply in relation to employment in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan; and

(b) the provisions of this Act with respect to the making of contributions by persons for any year in respect of self-employed earnings do not apply in relation to persons who on the last day of that year were resident in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), all of the provisions of this Act apply to

(a) employment by Her Majesty in right of Canada or by an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan, and

(b) any employment in a province providing a comprehensive pension plan if and to the extent that the establishment and operation of the plan referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition “province providing a comprehensive pension plan” in subsection 3(1), as the case may be, in relation to persons employed in that employment is outside the legislative authority of the legislature of that province,

as though that employment were employment in a province other than a province providing a comprehensive pension plan.

(3) The Minister of Social Development, with the approval of the Governor in Council, may on behalf of the Government of Canada enter into an agreement with the government of a province providing a comprehensive pension plan whereby, in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be set out in the agreement, any persons employed in employment described in subsection (2), and any employers of any persons employed in such employment, with respect to any persons so employed, shall be subject to the provisions of the provincial pension plan of that province in all respects as though the establishment and operation of that plan in relation to any persons so employed were within the legislative authority of the legislature of that province, and with respect to any period while the agreement continues in force, the agreement has the force of law according to the provisions thereof.

(4) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to be employed in the province in which the establishment of his employer to which he reports for work is situated, and where the employee is not required to report for work at any establishment of his employer, he shall be deemed to be employed in the province in which the establishment of his employer from which his remuneration is paid is situated.

(5) A reference in paragraph (1)(b) to the last day of a year shall, in the case of a person who resided in Canada at any time in that year but ceased to reside in Canada before the last day thereof, be deemed to be a reference to the last day in that year on which he resided in Canada.

R.S., 1985, c. C-8, s. 4; 1996, c. 11, s. 95; 2005, c. 35, s. 67.