Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 150, Number 28: GOVERNMENT NOTICES
July 9, 2016
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
PENSION BENEFITS STANDARDS ACT, 1985
Effective date for the Federal-Provincial Agreement Regarding the Pension Plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée
Notice is hereby given, pursuant to subsection 6.1(1) of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 that the effective date for Federal-Provincial Agreement Regarding the Pension Plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée is July 1, 2016.
WILLIAM FRANCIS MORNEAU
Minister of Finance
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DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
PENSION BENEFITS STANDARDS ACT, 1985
Federal-Provincial Agreement Regarding the Pension Plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée
FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL AGREEMENT REGARDING THE PENSION PLAN OF THE CAISSE POPULAIRE ACADIENNE LTÉE
BETWEEN: THE MINISTER OF FINANCE OF CANADA
AND: THE MINISTER OF FINANCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK
WHEREAS the Minister of Finance of Canada and the Minister of Finance of New Brunswick are authorized to enter into this Agreement; and
WHEREAS the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, under the direction of the Minister of Finance of Canada, has the control and supervision of the administration of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, and has the powers conferred by it; and
WHEREAS the Financial and Consumer Services Commission through its provincial Superintendent of Pensions administers the Pension Benefits Act; and
WHEREAS the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée will be continued as a federal credit union under the Bank Act; and
WHEREAS the Régime de pension à risques partagés des employés du Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes will, upon the federal continuance, include members who are employed in “included employment”, as defined in the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, and would, but for the terms of this Agreement, be subject to the requirements of that Act; and
WHEREAS it is desirable that upon the federal continuance the pension plan, which is currently supervised by the provincial Superintendent of Pensions, remains supervised by the provincial Superintendent of Pensions;
NOW THEREFORE, the parties agree as follows:
- In this Agreement:
- “Bank Act” means the Bank Act (S.C. 1991, c.46) and any regulations made thereunder, all as may from time to time be amended;
- “federal Minister of Finance” means the Minister of Finance of Canada;
- “federal Superintendent” means the Superintendent of Financial Institutions appointed pursuant to subsection 5(1) of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 18 (3rd Supp.), Part I);
- “included employment” has the same meaning as in the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985;
- “Official Languages Act” means the Official Languages Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 31 (4th Supp.)) and any regulations made thereunder, all as may from time to time be amended;
- “party” means the Minister of Finance of Canada or the Minister of Finance of New Brunswick;
- “Pension Benefits Act” means the Pension Benefits Act (S.N.B. 1987, C. P-5.1) and any regulations made thereunder, all as may from time to time be amended;
- “Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985” means the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (R.S.C., 1985, c. 32 (2nd Supp.)) and any regulations made thereunder, all as may from time to time be amended;
- “pension plan” means the Régime de pension à risques partagés des employés du Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes (NB 0381871);
- “provincial Superintendent” means the Superintendent as defined under the Pension Benefits Act; and
- “provincial Minister of Finance” means the Minister of Finance of New Brunswick.
- The pension plan is exempt from the requirements of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, and the federal Superintendent shall have no control or supervision over the pension plan, and no powers with respect to the pension plan.
- The provisions of the Pension Benefits Act, as administered under the supervision of the provincial Superintendent in the manner set out in that Act, will apply to the pension plan, including in respect of members in included employment.
- The provincial Superintendent will defend or respond to, in accordance with New Brunswick processes and procedures, any legal proceedings in relation to the regulation of the pension plan by the provincial Superintendent pursuant to the Pension Benefits Act.
- If the provincial Superintendent is for any reason unable or unwilling to exercise or perform any power, function, or duty that it is authorized or required to exercise or perform hereunder, or if it is expected that the pension plan will no longer include provincial members, it will immediately so notify the federal Minister of Finance in writing.
- Either party may terminate this Agreement by giving at least twelve months' notice in writing to the other party, the federal Superintendent, the provincial Superintendent and the administrator of the pension plan of its intention to terminate, and upon the expiration of the notice period this Agreement shall terminate.
- Upon termination of this Agreement, the provincial Superintendent shall forthwith turn over to the federal Superintendent copies of all records, except those subject to privilege, with respect to the pension plan that are necessary to enable the federal Superintendent to perform and exercise its own statutory powers, functions and duties with respect to that plan.
- This Agreement may be amended with the agreement of the parties.
- This Agreement applies to the pension plan notwithstanding any other agreement.
- Nothing in this Agreement affects any other agreement between the parties in respect of any other pension plan.
- The English and French versions of this Agreement shall have equal force and effect and shall be equally authoritative.
- In order to ensure that the provisions of the Official Languages Act will be respected and complied with, all communications and services provided by the provincial Superintendent to the public shall be available in English or in French and in the event that such communications cannot be provided as required by this section by the provincial Superintendent, the matter shall be referred to the federal Superintendent.
- This Agreement comes into force upon the date that the letters patent continuing the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée under the Bank Act are effective.
- This Agreement may be signed in counterparts, each of which shall be an original.
The Minister of Finance of Canada
WILLIAM FRANCIS MORNEAU
Duly authorized signatory
June 30, 2016
And
The Minister of Finance of New Brunswick
CATHY ROGERS
Duly authorized signatory
June 29, 2016
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Agreement.)
Proposal
The purpose of this Agreement is to authorize the Minister of Finance, pursuant to subsection 6.1(1) of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (PBSA), to enter into an agreement with the Government of New Brunswick regarding the pension plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée.
Objective
The objective of the Agreement is to enable the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée to continue to provide its existing shared risk pension plan to its employees now that it is a federal credit union.
Background
The PBSA and its Regulations, the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (PBSR), set out the legislative and regulatory requirements for private registered pension plans sponsored by employers in industries that are federally regulated, such as navigation and shipping, banking, inter-provincial transportation and communications, as well as employment in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. (see footnote 1)
Under the PBSA, the Minister of Finance has the authority, subject to Governor in Council approval, to enter into agreements with designated provinces in respect of pension plans with members in both federally regulated and provincially regulated employment. Multijurisdictional plans arise when a plan sponsor has employees who work in both federally and provincially regulated areas of employment (e.g. an airline that offers the same pension plan to all its employees would have pilots under federal pension jurisdiction and head office employees under provincial pension jurisdiction). The Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1, amended these agreement powers to broaden the scope of the federal government's ability to enter into agreements with designated provinces in order to better allow the federal and provincial governments to work together to oversee certain pension plans. In particular, the amendments clarified that the pension legislation of a designated province which is party to the agreement can be made to be applicable with respect to a pension plan that would otherwise be subject to federal legislation.
On July 1, 2016, the Fédération des Caisses Populaires Acadiennes Limitée, a credit union from New Brunswick, became the first federal credit union called the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée. The federal credit union framework provides an option for credit unions, such as the Fédération des Caisses Populaires Acadiennes Limitée, that seek to grow regionally or nationally, thereby fostering competition and consumer choice, access and lowering financial services cost.
The Caisse populaire acadienne ltée, as a federal credit union, has the majority of its pension plan members employed in the federal credit union as well as members employed by insurance company affiliates, which is an area of provincially regulated employment. As a result, the pension plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée is multijurisdictional and subject to both the PBSA (federal credit union members) and New Brunswick pension legislation (insurance company affiliate members). However, the pension plan is a shared risk pension plan, which is a type of pension plan that contains features (e.g. benefits are not guaranteed, and there are no solvency funding requirements) that may not be considered to be compatible with the provisions of the PBSA.
Implications
The Federal-Provincial Agreement Regarding the Pension Plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée authorizes the New Brunswick Superintendent of Pensions to supervise that pension plan, including its federal members, under the pension legislation of New Brunswick. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has no role in the administration and supervision of the pension plan.
The Agreement came into force on July 1, 2016, when the Fédération des Caisses Populaires Acadiennes Limitée became a federal credit union called the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée. The Agreement will have no impact on the employees of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée, as it allows their pension plan to continue to be supervised by the New Brunswick Superintendent of Pensions under New Brunswick pension legislation.
Consultation
The Federal-Provincial Agreement Regarding the Pension Plan of the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée was drafted in consultation with OSFI. The Government of New Brunswick, OSFI and the Caisse populaire acadienne ltée are supportive of the implementation of the Agreement.
Contact
Lisa Pezzack
Director
Financial Systems Division
Department of Finance Canada
90 Elgin Street, 13th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G5
Email: Lisa.Pezzack@canada.ca
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DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY
RADIOCOMMUNICATION ACT
Notice No. SMSE-011-16 — Release of DES-LAB, Issue 6, REC-LAB, Issue 5, and DES-CB, Issue 4
Notice is hereby given that Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) is facilitating submission of applications through online services by releasing the following documents:
- DES-LAB, Issue 6, Procedure for Designation and Recognition of Canadian Testing Laboratories, which specifies the procedure applicable to Canadian testing laboratories seeking recognition or designation to test telecommunications terminal equipment and radio apparatus;
- REC-LAB, Issue 5, Procedure for the Recognition of Designated Foreign Testing Laboratories, which describes the criteria and procedure used in Canada to recognize foreign testing laboratories that have been designated by a Mutual Recognition Agreement/Arrangement (MRA) partner to test the Canadian requirements for apparatus; and
- DES-CB, Issue 4, Procedure for the Designation of Canadian Certification Bodies (CB), which specifies the procedure used in Canada to designate a Canadian entity as a certification body to certify products to the regulatory requirements of an MRA partner.
The online services referred to in the above procedures will be available as of the date of the publication of this notice.
General information
The Procedures for Conformity Assessment Bodies list will be amended accordingly.
Submitting comments
Interested parties are requested to provide their comments within 90 days of the date of publication of this notice using the online “General Inquiry” form at www.ic.gc.ca/res_general. Comments and suggestions for improving these standards may be submitted online using the “Standard Change Request” form at www.ic.gc.ca/res_change.
Obtaining copies
Copies of this notice and of documents referred to herein are available electronically on ISED's Spectrum Management and Telecommunications Web site at www.ic.gc.ca/spectrum.
Official versions of Canada Gazette notices can be viewed at www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/index-eng.html.
June 30, 2016
MARTIN PROULX
Acting Director General
Engineering, Planning and Standards Branch
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DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY
RADIOCOMMUNICATION ACT
Notice No. SMSE-015-16 — Release of ICES-003, Issue 6 — Clarification
Notice is hereby given that Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) has released an update to the following document:
- Interference-Causing Equipment Standard ICES-003, Issue 6, Information Technology Equipment (Including Digital Apparatus) — Limits and Methods of Measurement
The update clarifies that external thermostats are subject to the requirements of ICES-003 as per Section 4(e). Industry will have until March 1, 2017, to ensure that these thermostats sold, offered for sale, manufactured, imported, distributed or leased are compliant.
Submitting comments
Interested parties are requested to provide their comments within 90 days of the date of publication of this notice using the online General Inquiry form at www.ic.gc.ca/res_general. Comments received will be taken into consideration in the preparation of the next issue of ICES-003.
Obtaining copies
Copies of this notice and of documents referred to herein are available electronically on ISED's Spectrum Management and Telecommunications Web site at www.ic.gc.ca/spectrum.
Official versions of Canada Gazette notices can be viewed at www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/index-eng.html.
June 30, 2016
MARTIN PROULX
Acting Director General
Engineering, Planning and Standards Branch
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PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE
Appointment opportunities
We know that our country is stronger — and our government more effective — when decision-makers reflect Canada's diversity. Moving forward, the Government of Canada will use an appointment process that is transparent and merit-based, strives for gender parity, and ensures that Indigenous Canadians and minority groups are properly represented in positions of leadership. We will continue to search for Canadians who reflect the values that we all embrace: inclusion, honesty, fiscal prudence, and generosity of spirit. Together, we will build a government as diverse as Canada.
The Government of Canada is currently seeking applications from diverse and talented Canadians from across the country who are interested in the following positions.
Upcoming opportunities
| Position | Organization |
|---|---|
| Full-time Member | National Energy Board |
| Chairperson | Patented Medicine Prices Review Board |
| Member | Patented Medicine Prices Review Board |
| Position | Organization |
|---|---|
| Full-time and Part-time Members (Appeal Division) | Social Security Tribunal |
| Full-time and Part-time Members (General Division — Income Security Section) | Social Security Tribunal |
| Full-time and Part-time Members (General Division — Employment Insurance Section) | Social Security Tribunal |
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