Order Amending Schedule I to the Public Service Superannuation Act: SOR/2019-301
Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 153, Number 17
Registration
SOR/2019-301 August 8, 2019
PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION ACT
P.C. 2019-1185 August 7, 2019
Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the President of the Treasury Board, pursuant to subsection 42(3) footnote a of the Public Service Superannuation Act footnote b, makes the annexed Order Amending Schedule I to the Public Service Superannuation Act.
Order Amending Schedule I to the Public Service Superannuation Act
Amendments
1 Part I of Schedule I to the Public Service Superannuation Act footnote 1 is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:
Full-time commissioners, Chief Executive Officer and employees of the Canadian Energy Regulator
Commissaires à temps plein, président-directeur général et personnel de la Régie canadienne de l’énergie
2 Part III of Schedule I to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:
National Energy Board
Office national de l’énergie
Coming into Force
3 This Order comes into force on the day on which section 10 of An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, chapter 28 of the Statutes of Canada, 2019, comes into force, but if it is registered after that day, it comes into force on the day on which it is registered.
REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT
(This statement is not part of the Order.)
Issues
The coming into force of the Canadian Energy Regulator Act (CERA) following royal assent of Bill C-69 requires that consequential amendments be made to Schedule I of the Public Service Superannuation Act (PSSA) to reflect the dissolution of the National Energy Board (NEB) and the creation of the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER), thereby protecting the pension entitlements of the employees of those entities and providing greater clarity for the purposes of administering the PSSA.
Background
The public service pension plan is established under the PSSA. The public service pension plan is a contributory defined benefit pension plan that serves more than 600 000 active and retired members, survivors and deferred annuitants. It is the largest of its kind in Canada in terms of total membership, covering substantially all employees of the Government of Canada. Members include employees of departments and agencies in the federal public service, certain Crown corporations and the territorial governments.
Schedule I of the PSSA supplements the definition of “public service” in subsection 3(1) of the Act by providing greater clarity regarding the boards, commissions, corporations and portions of the federal public service that participate or that have participated in the public service pension plan. The Governor in Council can add or remove entities from Schedule I of the PSSA when a federal entity is established or dissolved.
Part 2 of Bill C-69 enacts the CERA and repeals the National Energy Board Act (NEBA). With the NEBA’s repeal, the addition of the NEB to Part III of Schedule I of the PSSA is required to provide greater clarity for, and ensure commensurate legal protection of, pension entitlements for former employees who accrued service under the public service pension plan while employed by the NEB. The addition of the CER to Part I of Schedule I of the PSSA will also provide greater clarity with regard to the new entity’s coverage under the public service pension plan for the purposes of administering the PSSA.
Objective
The objective of these amendments is to update Schedule I of the PSSA to reflect the dissolution of the NEB and the establishment of the CER, thereby supporting the transition of employees of the NEB to the CER.
Description
These amendments update Schedule I of the PSSA by adding the CER to Part I of Schedule I and adding the NEB to Part III of Schedule I, thereby providing greater clarity for the purposes of administering the PSSA.
Regulatory development
Consultation
These amendments are technical in nature and pertain to the internal administration of the public service pension plan. Therefore, no public consultations were undertaken. For this reason, the amendments were not prepublished.
Modern treaty obligations and Indigenous engagement and consultation
No modern treaty obligations are affected by these amendments.
Instrument choice
The PSSA provides that parts I and III of Schedule I of the PSSA may be amended to add or delete entities through an order in council. Therefore, this is the most appropriate instrument available for proceeding with these amendments.
Regulatory analysis
Costs and benefits
These amendments are technical in nature and pertain to the internal administration of the public service pension plan. They will maintain the status quo in terms of pension coverage for members of the public service pension plan. As a result, no costs will be incurred by the Government of Canada.
Small business lens
The small business lens does not apply to these amendments, since they will not impact small businesses.
“One-for-One” Rule
The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to these amendments because they do not impose any administrative burden on business.
Regulatory cooperation and alignment
These amendments are technical in nature and pertain to the internal administration of the public service pension plan. They are unrelated to any work plans or commitments made under a formal regulatory cooperation forum. No regulatory cooperation or alignment is required.
Strategic environmental assessment
In accordance with The Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals, a preliminary scan concluded that a strategic environmental assessment is not required.
Gender-based analysis plus
No gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) impacts or considerations have been identified for these amendments.
Rationale
The CERA replaces the NEB with an independent, new federal agency: the CER. A key principle of this change is a smooth transition with no impact on current employment arrangements for employees of the NEB who are transferring to the CER.
With the dissolution of the NEB, through the repeal of the NEBA, the addition of the NEB to Part III of Schedule I of the PSSA provides former employees of the NEB with statutory protection for the service that they accrued while employed by the NEB.
The addition of the CER to Part I of Schedule I of the PSSA provides greater clarity that employment with the CER is considered to be employment in the public service for the purposes of the public service pension plan in accordance with the underlying intention of that schedule.
These amendments do not alter or impact the accrued pension benefits of employees affected by the dissolution of the NEB. No costs will be incurred by the Government of Canada as a result of these amendments.
Implementation, compliance and enforcement, and service standards
Implementation
These amendments will come into force on the date indicated on the Order. The coming-into-force date has been determined to align with the coming into force of the CERA and the repeal of the NEBA.
Contact
Deborah Elder
Senior Director
Pension Policy and Programs
Pensions and Benefits Sector
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0R5
Telephone: 613‑907‑7819