BILL 66
An Act to Amend the
Pension Benefits Act
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:
1 Section
65 of the Pension Benefits Act, chapter P-5.1 of the Acts of New Brunswick,
1987, is amended
(a) by adding
after subsection (1) the following:
65(1.1) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(a), if a pension plan is wound
up, in whole or in part, and as of the date of the wind-up the market
value of the investments held by the plan does not equal or exceed
its solvency liabilities, the employer shall pay into the fund in
accordance with subsection (4), an amount so that
(a) where the plan is wholly wound up,
the market value of investments held by the plan equals its solvency
liabilities, or
(b) where the plan is wound up in part,
the market value of the investments held by the plan attributable
to that portion of the plan being wound up equals its solvency liabilities
for that part,
and such amount required to be paid shall
be deemed to have accrued as of the effective date of the wind-up.
65(1.2) Subsection (1.1) does not apply to a defined benefit plan established
under one or more collective agreements or a trust agreement in which
the requirement that an employer’s contributions, or a person
required to make contributions on behalf of an employer, to a pension
fund are limited to a fixed amount established in a collective agreement
or a trust agreement.
(b) in subsection
(3) by adding “, other
than an amount determined pursuant to subsection (1.1),” after “under subsection
(1)”;
(c) by adding
after subsection (3) the following:
65(4) Where a pension plan is wound up, in whole or in part, and an
amount under subsection (1.1) is determined to be owing and the employer
is not insolvent,
(a) the employer shall fund the amount
over a period of not more than five years after the effective date
of the wind-up,
(b) the administrator shall continue
to file annual information returns and actuarial valuation reports
as required under this Act until the amount has been retired, and
(c) subject to subsections 62(2) and
(7), the assets of the plan shall be distributed in the manner and
to the extent prescribed.
65(5) If a plan is wound up, in whole or in part, and an amount is
owing pursuant to subsection (1.1), a schedule of special payments
shall be established, subject to the approval of the Superintendent,
for the amount to be retired over a period of not more than five years,
commencing as of the effective date of the wind-up.
65(6) For the purposes of subsection (1.1), the amount shall be considered
to have been retired if a subsequent actuarial valuation reveals that
the market value of investments of the plan or of the part of the
plan that was wound up, as the case may be, equals or exceeds its
solvency liabilities.
2 Section
66 of the Act is amended
(a) by renumbering
the section as subsection 66(1);
(b) by adding
after subsection (1) the following:
66(2) Nothing in subsection (1) prevents the Superintendent from ordering
a reduction in pensions and benefits under a pension plan before the
wind-up of the plan is completed if the Superintendent is of the opinion,
upon reasonable and probable grounds, that there are or are likely
to be insufficient funds available to pay the pensions and benefits
under the plan.
3 Subsection
72(2) of the Act is amended
(a) in paragraph
(e) by striking out “or” at the end of the paragraph;
(b) in
paragraph (f) by striking out “or” at the end of the paragraph;
(c) in
paragraph (g) by striking out the period at the end of the paragraph
and substituting a comma followed by “or”;
(d) by adding
after paragraph (g) the following:
(h) that there are or are likely to
be insufficient funds available to pay the pensions and benefits under
the plan.
4 This Act or any provision of this Act comes
into force on a day or days to be fixed by proclamation.