Ontario's Bill 236 Pension Reforms Revised by Standing Committee
Following several days of public hearings and receipt of many written submissions, on April 19, 2010 the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs reported on Ontario Bill 236, Pension Benefits Amendment Act, 2010, making a number of amendments to the Bill.
Probably the most significant change in the revised version of the Bill, which was ordered for third reading, was the extension of the modified surplus sharing regime to partial wind-ups.
The current surplus sharing regime requires employers to satisfy member consent thresholds AND demonstrate surplus ownership. Bill 236 (similar to the federal regime) originally permitted employers to withdraw surplus from their pension plans on full wind-up without needing to prove surplus ownership if member consent thresholds were satisfied and other prescribed requirements were satisfied. Future and pending partial wind-up surplus withdrawals (prior to the elimination of partial wind-ups in 2012) were, however, being treated differently under Bill 236 and remained subject to troublesome conflicts in the current legislation which have caused problems for employers and affected members for years. Revised Bill 236 fixes the problem by prescribing identical treatment for full and partial wind-up surplus distributions. This means that once the Bill becomes law, plan sponsors with pending partial wind-ups (and pending partial wind-up surplus distributions) will be able to take advantage of this modified surplus sharing regime and withdraw surplus by proving ownership or with the required level of member consent.
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