Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers Registered and Unregistered Pension Plans, Alta. Reg. 196/2001

Citation:	Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers Registered and Unregistered Pension Plans, Alta. Reg. 196/2001
Enabling Statutes:	3 Statutes
URL:	http://www.canlii.org/ab/laws/regu/2001r.196/20060310/whole.html
Version downloaded by CanLII on 2006-03-10

Warning: This document predates the last update of the collection. It might have been modified or omitted since this last update.

(Consolidated up to 118/2005)

ALBERTA REGULATION 196/2001

Provincial Court Act
Court of Queen’s Bench Act
Interpretation Act

PROVINCIAL JUDGES AND MASTERS IN CHAMBERS
REGISTERED AND UNREGISTERED PENSION PLANS

Table of Contents

Preamble

General Provisions

1 Division of Regulation

2 Interpretation

3 Transfer of assets held under temporary arrangements

4 Prevalence over repealed Regulations

5 Collection and disclosure of information

Schedule 1
Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers
(Registered) Pension Plan

1 Interpretation of Schedule 1

2 The Plan

Part 1
Administration

3 Administration of the Plan

4 Fiscal year

5 Report to the Legislative Assembly

Part 2
Participation

6 The participants

Part 3
Funding

7 Registered pension plan fund

8 Actuarial valuation report

9 Fiduciary relationship and use of surplus

10 Contributions and accretion

11 Participant contributions

12 Government contributions

Part 4
Pensionable Service

13 Computation of pensionable service

Part 5
Benefits

14 Interpretation and application of Subdivisions A

15 Interpretation and application of Subdivisions B

16 Limitation of benefits where obtainable under
Subdivisions A and B

17 Vesting based on all service

Division 1
Retirement Benefits

Subdivision A
For Service Before 1992

18 Limitation of benefits to meet tax rules

19 Normal pension based on age and service

20 Pension partner protection

21 Alternative forms of pension

22 Disability pensions

23 Disability pension adjustments

24 Postponement of pension

25 Failure to select pension

Subdivision B
For Service After 1991

26 Tax rule limitations on benefits

27 Normal pension based on age and service

28 Pension partner protection

29 Alternative forms of pension

30 Pension on early retirement

31 Disability pensions

32 Disability pension adjustments

33 Postponement of pension

34 Failure to select pension

Division 2
Death Benefits

35 Application of Division

Subdivision A
For Service Before 1992

36 Pension partner’s benefit on death before pension commencement

37 Benefits to other beneficiaries

Subdivision B
For Service After 1991

38 Pension partner’s benefit on death before pension commencement

39 Benefits to other beneficiaries

Division 3
Benefits on Termination
Before Pension Eligibility

Subdivision A
For Service Before 1992

40 Vested participants under 55

Subdivision B
For Service After 1991

41 Vested participants under 55

42 Non-vested participants

Division 4
Miscellaneous Provisions on Benefits

43 Cost-of-living increases

44 Interest allowance

45 Pension commencement

46 Commencement of guaranteed term of years

47 Suspension of pension on employment

48 Suspension of pension on reappointment

49 Beneficiaries

50 Method of payment of pensions

51 Idem – conversion following death

52 Continuation of existing pensions and pension rights

Part 6
Miscellaneous

53 Interest chargeable

54 Advance against pension

55 Actuarial formulas

56 Exercise of benefit choice

57 Prohibition against assignment, etc.

58 Matrimonial property orders

59 Liability of benefits to legal process

60 Liability of Government and prohibition against
extra‑legislative benefits or remedies

61 Rights and obligations under former Regulation

62 Overpayments and deficiencies

63 Return of money

64 Retentions for debt

65 Requirement of evidence

66 Appeals

67 Termination of the Plan, and surplus on wind‑up

68 Transitional – interest rates - 1998

69 Transitional – actuarial tables

70 Transitional – pre‑April 1, 1998 service purchases

71.1 Transitional – election for certain judges

71.2 Transitional – interest relief for non‑electing judges

Subschedule

Forms

Schedule 2
Provincial Judges and Masters in
Chambers (Unregistered) Pension Plan

1 Interpretation of Schedule 2

2 Establishment of the Plan

Part 1
Administration

3 Administration of the Plan

4 Fiscal year

5 Report to the Legislative Assembly

Part 2
Participation

6 The participants

Part 3
Funding

7 RCA fund

8 Actuarial valuation report

9 Payment of benefits and costs

10 Contributions and RCA taxes

11 Participant contributions

12 Government contributions

Part 4
Pensionable Service

13 Computation of pensionable service

Part 5
Benefits

15 Interpretation and application of Part 5

16 Limitation of benefits

16.1 Linking of benefit choices to those made under Registered Plan

17.1 Reduction for Registered Plan benefits

Division 1
Retirement Benefits

27 Amount and form of pension

28 Spousal protection

29 Alternative forms of pension

31 Disability pensions

32 Disability pension adjustments

33 Postponement of pension

34 Failure to select pension

Division 2
Death Benefits

35 Application of Division

36 Pension partner’s benefit for pre-1992 service

37 Benefits to other beneficiaries for pre-1992 service

38 Pension partner’s benefit on death before pension commencement

39 Benefits to other beneficiaries

Division 3
Benefits on Termination
Before Pension Eligibility

41 Vested participants under 55

42 Non‑vested participants

Division 4
Miscellaneous Provisions on Benefits

43 Cost-of-living increases

44 Interest allowance

45 Pension commencement

46 Commencement of guaranteed term of years

47 Suspension of pension on employment

48 Suspension of pension on reappointment

49 Beneficiaries

50 Method of payment of pensions

51 Idem – conversion following death

Part 6
Miscellaneous

53 Interest chargeable

54 Advance against pension

55 Actuarial formulas

56 Exercise of benefit choice

57 Prohibition against assignment, etc.

58 Matrimonial property orders

59 Liability of benefits to legal process

60 Liability of Government and prohibition
against extra‑legislative benefits or remedies

62 Overpayments and deficiencies

63 Return of money

64 Retentions for debt

65 Requirement of evidence

66 Appeals

67 Termination of the Plan, and surplus on wind‑up

68 Transitional – interest rates – 1998

71.1 Transitional – election for certain judges

71.2 Transitional – interest relief for non‑electing judges

72 Recalculation of past benefits

73 Forms

Preamble

WHEREAS the Supreme Court of Canada recently decided certain questions on the subject‑matters of benefits payable to provincial judges and judicial independence; and

WHEREAS the 1998 and 2000 Judicial Compensation Commissions have made recommendations respecting those benefits, including specifically pensions and other retirement benefits, and also those for masters in chambers; and

WHEREAS it is the intent of this Regulation generally to put into effect those recommendations, so far as they relate to pensions and other retirement benefits, and to bring the legislation into line with current income tax rules (so far as applicable) and, as to structure and draftsmanship, other public sector pension legislation;

THEREFORE the Lieutenant Governor in Council enacts as follows:

General Provisions

Division of Regulation

1 Apart from the Preamble and sections 1 to 7, this Regulation is divided into

(a) Schedule 1, containing the Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers (Registered) Pension Plan continued by that Schedule, and related provisions, and

(b) Schedule 2, containing the Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers (Unregistered) Pension Plan established by that Schedule, and related provisions.

Interpretation

2 Expressions that are used in sections 1 to 7 and defined in Schedules 1 and 2 have the corresponding appropriate meanings given by those Schedules collectively.

Transfer of assets held under temporary arrangements

3 The Minister of Finance shall, as soon as practicable, transfer all the assets held in the Consolidated Cash Investment Trust Fund account under section 7 of the Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers (Temporary Pension Arrangements) Regulation, 1998 (AR 177/98),

(a) to the extent that they consist of or derive from contributions which, by virtue of Schedule 1, were liable to be made to the pension plan continued by Schedule 1, to the pension fund continued by section 7(1) of Schedule 1, and

(b) to the extent that they consist of or derive from contributions which, by virtue of Schedule 2, were liable to be made to the plan established by Schedule 2, to the fund established by section 7(1) of Schedule 2,

and, notwithstanding the repeal of that Regulation by section 6(2), that account is to continue in force, so far as necessary but without any further addition of contributions, until that transfer is made.

Prevalence over repealed Regulations

4 Notwithstanding anything in section 35 of the Interpretation Act, to the extent that this Regulation and the Regulations repealed by section 6(1) and (2) are inconsistent with reference to anything occurring before the making of this Regulation, this Regulation prevails over those repealed ones.

AR 196/2001 s4;251/2001

Collection and disclosure of information

5(1) In this section, “judicial service information” means personal information within the meaning of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that

(a) relates to pensions and other benefits or to participants’ and former participants’ service, and

(b) has a reasonable and direct connection to the administration of pensions and other benefits.

(2) The Minister is authorized to collect judicial service information from, and to disclose it to,

(a) the specific participant or former participant to whom the information relates,

(b) an appeal board established under Schedule 1 or 2, where the information relates to the appellant or respondent, and

(3) The Minister of Justice and Attorney General is authorized to collect judicial service information from, and to disclose it to,

(a) a person or board referred to in subsection (2)(a) or (b), and

(b) the Minister.

(4) The Minister may require the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to provide to the Minister, within the time specified by the Minister, information that is required by the Minister to enable him or her to fulfill his or her functions under this Regulation.

6, 7 Repealed AR 118/2005 s2.

Schedule 1

Provincial Judges and Masters in
Chambers (Registered) Pension Plan

Interpretation of Schedule 1

1(1) In this Schedule,

(a) “actuarial equivalent” means the equivalent in actuarial present value, calculated in accordance with demographic and economic factors that are recommended by an actuary and approved by the Minister;

(b) “actuary” means a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries;

(b.1) “appointed”, used in relation to a judge or supernumerary judge of the Provincial Court or a part‑time judge, includes reappointed;

(c) “benefit” means a retirement benefit, a death benefit or a benefit on termination before pension eligibility, under Part 5;

(d) “capped salary” means salary that is or was compensation within the meaning of the tax rules, subject however to such limitation as is or was necessary to ensure that the benefit accrual under the tax rules for the taxation year does not or did not exceed the defined benefit limit fixed by the tax rules for that year;

(e) “contributions” means contributions under the Plan;

(f) “former Regulation” means the Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers Pension Plan Regulation (AR 265/88) (repealed);

(g) “judge” means

(i) a judge of the Provincial Court appointed under the Provincial Court Act and includes a Chief Judge, Deputy Chief Judge and an Assistant Chief Judge, or

(ii) a master,

but does not include a supernumerary judge of the Provincial Court or a part‑time judge or part‑time master;

(h) “judicial service” means periods of judicial service as, or otherwise occupying the position of, a judge;

(i) “latest pension accrual date” means the last date as of which the tax rules allow a participant to accrue pensionable service;

(j) “leave without salary” means a period during which a participant is or was, with due authorization, on leave from his or her regular duties as a judge and is receiving no remuneration or remuneration that is less than his or her regular remuneration, and includes any period recognized as leave without pay under the former Regulation, but does not include a period during which he or she is or was on LTDI;

(k) “master” means a master in chambers appointed under the Court of Queen's Bench Act;

(l) “matrimonial property order” means a matrimonial property order within the meaning of the Matrimonial Property Act, or a similar order enforceable in Alberta of a court outside Alberta, that affects the payment or distribution of a person’s benefits;

(m) “maximum benefit accrual date” means, in respect of a participant, the date on which the 70% benefit accrual percentage referred to in section 11(3)(a) is reached;

(n) “Minister” means the member of the Executive Council responsible for the administration of the Management Employees Pension Plan;

(o) “on LTDI” means, in relation to a judge or former judge (other than a former judge who is or was a part‑time judge), in receipt of money provided to a participant under and within the meaning of the Long Term Disability Income Continuance Plan established by Schedule 2 to the Provincial Court Judges and Masters in Chambers Compensation Regulation (AR 176/98), and includes his or her being in receipt of benefits under the Government’s Long Term Disability Income Continuance Plan for management employees before the first‑mentioned Plan came into effect;

(p) “participant” means a person who is a participant of the Plan by virtue of section 6;

(q) “participant current service contributions” means a participant’s contributions under section 11(1);

(q.1) “part‑time judge” means a person appointed as such under section 9.24 of the Provincial Court Act;

(r) “pension” means a pension under the Plan, and “pensioner” means a person in receipt of such a pension and includes a prospective pensioner;

(r.1) “pension partner” means

(i) a person who, at the relevant time, was married to a participant or former participant and

(A) was not judicially or otherwise separated from him or her, or

(B) if so separated, was wholly or substantially dependent on him or her,

(ii) if there is no person to whom subclause (i) applies, a person who, as at and up to the relevant time, had lived with the participant or former participant in a conjugal relationship

(A) for a continuous period of at least 3 years, or

(B) of some permanence, if there is a child of the relationship by birth or adoption,

and was, during that period or that relationship, as the case may be, held out by the participant or former participant in the community in which they lived as being in that conjugal relationship, or

(iii) if there is no person to whom subclause (i) or (ii) applies, a person who was married to but separated from the participant or former participant and not wholly or substantially dependent on him or her at the relevant time;

(s) “pension commencement” means the time established by section 45 that constitutes the effective date for the commencement of the relevant pension;

(t) “pensionable service” means any period to be taken into account as pensionable service under section 13;

(u) “plan fund” means the pension fund continued by section 7(1);

(v) “registered” means registered or accepted for registration under the Income Tax Act (Canada);

(w) “salary” means,

(i) subject to subclause (ii), a judge’s annual salary under the Provincial Court Judges and Masters in Chambers Compensation Regulation (AR 176/98) or any predecessor of that Regulation, or both, as the case may be, or

(ii) in the case of a person who is or was on LTDI or on leave without salary, the amount that would have been the annual salary under subclause (i) had that person remained in active judicial service in the capacity in which he or she served immediately before becoming disabled or going on leave without salary, as the case may be,

but, in respect of any period after a participant has reached the latest pension accrual date, means $0;

(x) “service” means any period that is judicial service or pensionable service or both;

(y) repealed AR 97/2002 s4;

(z) “tax rules” means those provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada) or of the regulations under it, or of both, that apply to pension plans registered or to be registered under that Act and includes any approval, certification or other permission or any direction or order from the federal Minister of National Revenue the absence of which or failure to comply with which may make the Plan’s registration liable to revocation under that Act;

(aa) “termination”, subject to subsection (1.1), means a person’s ceasing to be a participant under any circumstances other than death;

(bb) “the Plan” or “this Plan” means the pension plan continued by section 2(1) as the Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers (Registered) Pension Plan;

(cc) “vested” means, in relation to a participant or former participant, having accumulated at least 5 years’ pensionable service or terminating or having terminated on or after reaching the latest pension accrual date;

(dd) “years of pensionable service” means, in respect of a participant or former participant, the number of complete years and any fraction of a remaining year of pensionable service.

(1.1) To avoid doubt, where a judge is appointed as a judge under section 9.23 of the Act with immediate effect from the end of a previous term of appointment as a judge (whether under section 9.23 or not) and without any break, then, for the purposes of this Schedule, there is no termination.

The Plan

2(1) The pension plan provided for by and under the former Regulation is continued, subject to this Schedule, as the Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers (Registered) Pension Plan.

(2) It is the intent of this Schedule that the Plan be and remain a registered pension plan under the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Part 1
Administration

Administration of the Plan

3(1) The Minister is the administrator of the Plan.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in the Plan except subsection (3), the Minister shall administer the Plan in accordance with the tax rules.

(3) If in any respect the Plan does not comply with the applicable tax rules, the Minister may administer the Plan as if this Schedule were amended so to comply.

Fiscal year

4 The fiscal year of the Plan is from April 1 in one year to March 31 in the next.

Report to the Legislative Assembly

5(1) The Minister shall prepare and lay before the Legislative Assembly a report on the operation of the Plan with respect to each fiscal year.

(2) The report must include the most recent actuarial valuation report prepared under section 8 unless that valuation report has already been included in a previous annual report.

Part 2
Participation

The participants

6 The persons who are to and are allowed to participate in the Plan are

(a) all judges, and

(b) all former judges who are on LTDI.

Part 3
Funding

Registered pension plan fund

7(1) The Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers Pension Fund referred to in section 21.2 of the Financial Administration Act is continued as the “Provincial Judges and Masters in Chambers (Registered) Pension Plan Fund” for this Plan.

(2) The Minister of Finance shall hold and administer the plan fund in accordance with this Schedule.

(3) The Minister of Finance shall invest the assets of the plan fund in accordance with the Employment Pension Plans Act and the regulations under it.

(4) All the assets of the Plan are to be held in, and all its liabilities are to be assumed by, the plan fund.

Actuarial valuation report

8 The Minister shall have an actuarial valuation of the Plan performed, and a report on that valuation prepared, by an actuary at least once every 3 years.

Fiduciary relationship and use of surplus

9(1) Subject to subsection (2), the Minister of Finance shall hold the assets of the Plan in trust for the persons who are or who become entitled to benefits, and for the payment of the costs of administering the Plan.

(2) Without breaching the trust under or being in any other manner affected by subsection (1), where the total amount held under that subsection exceeds the amount that is actuarially determined to be necessary to pay benefits and the costs of administering the Plan, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, with respect to any portion or all of the excess,

(a) transfer it to the General Revenue Fund, or

(b) apply it towards reduction of the contributions for which the Government is liable under section 12.

Contributions and accretion

10(1) All contributions to the Plan, with interest if any, shall be made and remitted to the Minister of Finance, who shall deposit them into the plan fund directly on receiving them.

(2) All income of and all appreciation and depreciation in the value of the assets of the Plan accrue to the plan fund.

Participant contributions

11(1) Subject to this section, a participant shall, at intervals coinciding with the salary periods fixed by order of the Minister, make contributions for current service at the rate of

(a) 9%, until March 31, 2000, and

(b) 7%, with effect from April 1, 2000,

of the participant’s capped salary.

(2) A participant who is about to enter into a period of leave without salary that does not exceed the 2‑year maximum specified in section 13(3) may apply to have that period taken into account as pensionable service and, if he or she wishes to have it so taken into account, shall make and, to the extent, if any, necessary, remit contributions, with respect to that leave,

(a) pursuant to subsection (1) for the period of or periods aggregating one year less any periods of leave without salary previously taken and falling within this clause or section 9(4)(b) of the former Regulation, and

(b) pursuant to subsection (1), except at double the rate set out in subsection (1), for any subsequent periods.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in this section, participant current service contributions are not to be made after a participant

(a) attains a benefit accrual percentage of 70%, the benefit accrual percentage being equal to

(2% x A) + (2.67% x B) + (3% x C)

where

A = the participant’s years of pensionable service before April 1, 1998,

B = the years of pensionable service from April 1, 1998 to March 31, 2000, and

C = the years of pensionable service after March 31, 2000,

(b) reaches the latest pension accrual date,

whichever of those events occurs first.

(4) A participant shall not make contributions while on LTDI except that, if a participant on LTDI is also earning a salary under a rehabilitation employment program, he or she shall make and remit contributions pursuant to subsection (1) in respect of that salary.

(5) Subject to subsections (2) and (4), the Government is liable for the remittance of the participant current service contributions under subsection (1), for which purpose it may withhold those contributions from remuneration p