News & Updates
Ontario 2022 Fall Statement: Pension-Related Highlights
November 15, 2022
The 2022 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review (2022 Fall Statement) was released on November 14. The primary focus of the 2022 Fall Statement is on highlighting targeted measures that advance Ontario’s plan to build the economy. In addition, the Government also introduced Bill 36: Progress on the Plan to Build Act (Budget Measures) 2022. There are also some noteworthy pension related announcements. Here are the key pension-related highlights:
- Schedule 7 of Bill 36 contains amendments to section 10 of the PBA relating to documents that create and support a pension plan:
- Collective Agreements – a new subsection 10(1.0.1) is added to clarify the circumstances under which a collective agreement must be filed. Note: the criteria in the new (1.0.1) are the same as exist in subsection 10(8) which was enacted in 2017 but never brought into force (plan established by a collective agreement, collective agreement incorporates plan or plan provisions are set out in collective agreement).
- Funding Policy and Governance Policy:
- New subsections 10(5)-(7) are added to require administrators of pension plans that provide target benefits (see below re: implementation) to file a funding policy and governance policy.
- New subsection 10(8) is added to provide that a pension plan’s funding policy and its governance policy must “satisfy such requirements and contain such information as may be prescribed, and must be reviewed in accordance with the regulations”
- Schedule 7 then provides that the new subsections 10(5)-(7) are repealed and replaced with subsections 10(5) and (6) which provide that all pension plans must file a funding policy and governance policy.
- Note: all these provisions come into force on a date to be proclaimed – the explanatory notes for Bill 36 say that the funding policy and governance policy requirements for target benefit plans will be proclaimed first, eventually to be replaced by the provisions applying to all plans.
- Target Benefit Pension Plan implementation – the 2022 Fall Statement repeats the announcement from the 2022 Budget that this winter the government will launch its consultation with stakeholders on proposed regulations necessary for implementing a permanent target benefit framework in Ontario. No further details are provided.
The 2022 Fall Statement can be viewed here, and the accompanying press release here. The full text of Bill 36 is also available on the Ontario Legislature’s website, here.
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