Within

Canadian law The legal system of Canada is Legal pluralism, pluralist: its foundations lie in the English common law system (inherited from its period as a colony of the British Empire), the Napoleonic Code, French civil law system (inherited from its New Fra ...

, Pension regulation in Canada falls mostly within

provincial jurisdiction Canadian federalism () involves the current nature and historical development of the federal system in Canada. Canada is a federation with eleven components: the national Government of Canada and ten provincial governments. All eleven go ...

by virtue of the

property and civil rights Section 92(13) of the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', also known as the property and civil rights power, grants the provincial legislatures of Canada the authority to legislate on: It is one of three key residuary powers in the ''Constitution Act, 18 ...

power under the ''

Constitution Act, 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...

''. For workers whose employers are subject to

federal jurisdiction Federal jurisdiction is the jurisdiction of the federal government in any country that uses federalism. Such a country is known as a Federation. Federal jurisdiction by country All federations, by definition, must have some form of federal juri ...

, such jurisdiction extends to regulating pension plans available to them.

Pension Benefits Act (Ontario)

The ''Pension Benefits Act'' is administered by the Superintendent of Financial Services appointed by the

Financial Services Commission of Ontario The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA; french: Autorité ontarienne de réglementation des services financiers) is a self-funding Crown agency which acts as the financial regulator for the province of Ontario, Canada. Esta ...

. Ontario regulates approximately 8,350 employment pension plans, which comprise more than 40 per cent of all registered pension plans in Canada It was originally enacted as the ''Pension Benefits Act, 1965'' (S.O. 1965, c. 96), and it was the first statute in any Canadian jurisdiction to regulate pension plans.

Overview

* all pension plans in the province must be registered with the

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

* a plan must have an administrator * the administrator has a

statutory duty Statutory law or statute law is written law passed by a body of legislature. This is opposed to oral or customary law; or regulatory law promulgated by the executive or common law of the judiciary. Statutes may originate with national, state leg ...

to exercise care, diligence and skill * the plan may be either

defined benefit Defined benefit (DB) pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum, or combination thereof on retirement that depends on an employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age, ...

defined contribution A defined contribution (DC) plan is a type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these a ...

, and appropriate rules are in place to protect the benefits that have accordingly accrued to each member * rules are in effect to determine the value of benefits that may be transferred or divided for family law purposes * the plan must have sufficient funding to provide the benefits that have been committed under it * protections are in place in the event of the

winding up Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

of a plan, or the underfunding of a plan in the event of the employer's

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

* transfers between plans cannot take place without the Superintendent's authorization * a guarantee fund is in place for guaranteeing certain benefits provided by plans, and it is funded by all employers providing such plans

Content

Manner of regulation by jurisdiction

In addition to registration requirements under the ''Income Tax Act'' relating to eligibility of expenses and deductions that are administered by th
Canada Revenue Agency
plans are registered in the host jurisdiction as follows:

References

{{reflist Pensions in Canada Retirement in Canada Regulation in Canada