Canada Pension Plan (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-8)

Marginal note:Return of benefit where recipient not entitled

• 66 (1) A person or estate that has received or obtained by cheque or otherwise a benefit payment to which the person or estate is not entitled, or a benefit payment in excess of the amount of the benefit payment to which the person or estate is entitled, shall forthwith return the cheque or the amount of the benefit payment, or the excess amount, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amount of payment

  (2) If a person has received or obtained a benefit payment to which the person is not entitled, or a benefit payment in excess of the amount of the benefit payment to which the person is entitled, the amount of the benefit payment or the excess amount, as the case may be, constitutes a debt due to Her Majesty and is recoverable at any time in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amount of interest

  (2.01) Interest payable under this Part constitutes a debt due to Her Majesty and is recoverable at any time in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amount of penalty

  (2.02) The amount of a penalty imposed on a person under section 90.1 constitutes a debt due to Her Majesty and is recoverable at any time in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Set-off

  (2.1) Where any amount is or becomes payable to the person or the person’s estate or succession under this Act or any other Act or program administered by the Minister, that indebtedness may, in the prescribed manner, be deducted and retained out of the amount payable.

• Marginal note:Certificates

  (2.2) All or part of the amount of that indebtedness that has not been recovered may be certified by the Minister

  • (a) without delay, if in the Minister’s opinion the person liable to pay the amount is attempting to avoid payment; and

  • (b) in any other case, on the expiration of 30 days after the default.

• Marginal note:Judgment

  (2.3) On production to the Federal Court, the certificate shall be registered in the Court. When it is registered, it has the same force and effect, and all proceedings may be taken, as if the certificate were a judgment obtained in the Court for a debt of the amount specified in the certificate.

• Marginal note:Judgment

  (2.4) A certificate registered under subsection (2.3) may also be registered in the superior court of a province as if it were a document evidencing a judgment of that court.

• Marginal note:Costs

  (2.5) All reasonable costs and charges for the registration of the certificate are recoverable in the same way as if they had been certified and the certificate registered under this section.

• Marginal note:Charge on land

  (2.6) A document issued by the Federal Court or by a superior court of a province evidencing a certificate in respect of a debtor registered under subsection (2.3) or (2.4) may be recorded for the purpose of creating security, or a charge, lien or legal hypothec, on land in a province, or on an interest in land in a province, held or owned by the debtor, in the same manner as a document evidencing a judgment of the superior court of the province against a person for a debt owing by the person may be recorded in accordance with the law of the province to create security, or a charge, lien or legal hypothec, on land, or an interest in land, held or owned by the person.

• Marginal note:Garnishment

  (2.7) If the Minister knows or suspects that a person is or is about to become indebted or liable to make a payment to a person liable to make a payment to Her Majesty under this Part, the Minister may, by a notice served personally or by confirmed delivery service, require the first person to pay the money otherwise payable to the second person in whole or in part to the Receiver General on account of the second person’s liability.

• Marginal note:Debt due to the Crown

  (2.8) An amount not paid as required by a notice under subsection (2.7) is a debt due to Her Majesty.

• Marginal note:Proof of personal service

  (2.9) If provision is made by this Act or the regulations for personal service of a request for information or a notice or demand, an affidavit of the person effecting service stating that

  • (a) the person has charge of the appropriate records and has knowledge of the facts in the particular case,

  • (b) such a request, notice or demand was served personally on a named day on the person to whom it was directed, and

  • (c) the person identifies as an exhibit attached to the affidavit a true copy of the request, notice or demand,

  is evidence of the personal service and of the request, notice or demand.

• Marginal note:Remission of amount owing

  (3) Notwithstanding paragraph 61(2)(b) and subsections (1) and (2) of this section, where a person has received or obtained a benefit payment to which he is not entitled, or a benefit payment in excess of the amount of the benefit payment to which he is entitled, and the Minister is satisfied that

  • (a) the amount or excess of the benefit payment cannot be collected within the reasonably foreseeable future,

  • (b) the administrative costs of collecting the amount or excess of the benefit payment are likely to equal or exceed the amount to be collected,

  • (c) repayment of the amount or excess of the benefit payment would cause undue hardship to the debtor, or

  • (d) the amount or excess of the benefit payment is the result of erroneous advice or administrative error on the part of the Minister or an official of the Department of Employment and Social Development acting in an official capacity in the administration of this Act,

  the Minister may, unless that person has been convicted of an offence under any provision of this Act or of the Criminal Code in connection with the obtaining of the benefit payment, remit all or any portion of the amount or excess of the benefit payment.

• Marginal note:Where person denied benefit due to departmental error, etc.

  (4) Where the Minister is satisfied that, as a result of erroneous advice or administrative error in the administration of this Act, any person has been denied

  • (a) a benefit, or portion thereof, to which that person would have been entitled under this Act,

  • (b) a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1, or

  • (c) an assignment of a retirement pension under section 65.1,

  the Minister shall take such remedial action as the Minister considers appropriate to place the person in the position that the person would be in under this Act had the erroneous advice not been given or the administrative error not been made.

• Marginal note:When person denied division

  (5) Where the Minister is satisfied that a person has been denied a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under section 55 or 55.1 as a result of the provisions of a written agreement entered into or a court order made before June 4, 1986, the Minister shall take such remedial action as the Minister considers appropriate to place the person in the position that the person would be in under this Act had the division been approved, including attributing to that person the earnings that would have been attributed had the division been approved, if

  • (a) the agreement or order does not indicate that there be no division of unadjusted pensionable earnings under this Act; and

  • (b) all other criteria specified by or under this Act respecting divisions are met.

• Marginal note:Exclusion of Financial Administration Act

  (6) Section 155.1 of the Financial Administration Act does not apply in relation to amounts owing to Her Majesty under this Part.

Marginal note:Request to cancel benefit

• 66.1 (1) A beneficiary may, in prescribed manner and within the prescribed time interval after payment of a benefit has commenced, request cancellation of that benefit.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (1.1) Subsection (1) does not apply to the cancellation of a retirement pension in favour of a disability benefit where an applicant for a disability benefit under this Act or under a provincial pension plan is in receipt of a retirement pension and the applicant is deemed to have become disabled for the purposes of entitlement to the disability benefit in or after the month for which the retirement pension first became payable.

• Marginal note:Effect of cancellation

  (2) Where a request made under subsection (1) or under a substantially similar provision of a provincial pension plan is granted and the amount of the benefits paid is repaid within the prescribed time or, in the case of a provincial pension plan, the time provided thereunder, that benefit shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act not to have been payable during the period in question.

DIVISION DPayment of Benefits: Special Rules Applicable

Retirement Pension

Marginal note:Commencement of retirement pension

• 67 (1) For a retirement pension that commences to be payable before January 1, 1987, subject to section 62, where an applicant, other than an estate, has reached sixty-five years of age and payment of the retirement pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with

  • (a) the month in which the applicant reached sixty-five years of age,

  • (b) the latest of the eleventh month preceding the month in which the application was received, the month following the month in which the contributor last worked and for which a contribution was made under this Act or a provincial pension plan and the month following the last month for which unadjusted pensionable earnings have been attributed under section 55, or

  • (c) the month for which the applicant applied for the pension to commence,

  whichever is the latest.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) For a retirement pension that commences to be payable on or after January 1, 1987 and where the applicant is not an estate, subject to section 62, where payment of the retirement pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with the latest of

  • (a) the month in which the applicant reached sixty years of age,

  • (b) the month following the month in which the applicant applied, if he was under seventy years of age when he applied,

  • (c) the month following the month in which the applicant wholly or substantially ceased to be engaged in paid employment or self-employment, if he is then under sixty-five years of age,

  • (d) the month in which the applicant reached sixty-five years of age, if he has not wholly or substantially ceased to be engaged in paid employment or self-employment,

  • (e) the twelfth month preceding the month following the month in which the applicant applied, if he was over seventy years of age when he applied,

  • (f) the month in which the applicant reached seventy years of age, if he applied after reaching that age,

  • (g) the month of January 1987, if the applicant has reached sixty years of age but not sixty-five years of age before that month, and

  • (h) the month chosen by the applicant in his application.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Where a person who has applied to receive a retirement pension attains the age of sixty-five years before the day on which the application is received, the pension is payable commencing with the latest of

  • (a) the twelfth month before the month after the month in which the applicant applied or the month of January 1995, whichever is later,

  • (b) the month in which the applicant reaches the age of sixty-five years, or

  • (c) the month chosen by the applicant in the application.

• Marginal note:Commencement of retirement pension — on or after January 1, 2012

  (3.1) For a retirement pension that commences to be payable on or after January 1, 2012 and if the applicant is not an estate, subject to section 62, if payment of the retirement pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with the latest of

  • (a) the month in which the applicant reached sixty years of age,

  • (b) the month following the month in which the application was received if they were under sixty-five years of age when they applied,

  • (c) the eleventh month preceding the month in which the application was received if they have reached sixty-five years of age when they applied, but in no case earlier than the month in which they reached sixty-five years of age, and

  • (d) the month chosen by the applicant in their application.

• Marginal note:Retirement pension — application waived

  (3.2) For a retirement pension in respect of which the requirement to make the application was waived under subsection 60(1.2), if payment of the retirement pension is approved, the pension is payable for each of the following months:

  • (a) each month after the month in which the requirement was waived; and

  • (b) each of the 12 months in which the beneficiary had reached the age of 70 — including the month in which they reached that age — before the first month referred to in paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Deemed application where disability pension ceased

  (4) Where a disability pension is no longer payable because a decision that the person was disabled has been reversed or because the person has ceased to be disabled, and on or before the day that is 90 days after the day on which the person is notified that the disability pension has ceased, or within any longer period that the Minister may either before or after the expiration of those 90 days allow, the person applies for a retirement pension, that application is deemed to have been received in the latest of

  • (a) the month in which the disability pension application was made,

  • (b) the last month for which the disability pension was payable, and

  • (c) the month before the month in which the contributor reached the age of 60 years.

Marginal note:Duration of payment

68 Subject to this Act, a retirement pension shall continue to be paid during the lifetime of the beneficiary, and shall cease with the payment for the month in which the beneficiary dies.

68.1 [Repealed, 2009, c. 31, s. 39]

Disability Pension and Post-retirement Disability Benefit

Marginal note:Commencement of pension

69 Subject to section 62, where payment of a disability pension is approved, the pension is payable for each month commencing with the fourth month following the month in which the applicant became disabled, except that where the applicant was, at any time during the five year period next before the month in which the applicant became disabled as a result of which the payment is approved, in receipt of a disability pension payable under this Act or under a provincial pension plan,

• (a) the pension is payable for each month commencing with the month next following the month in which the applicant became disabled as a result of which the payment is approved; and

• (b) the reference to “fifteen months” in paragraph 42(2)(b) shall be read as a reference to “twelve months”.

Marginal note:When pension ceases to be payable

• 70 (1) A disability pension ceases to be payable with the payment

  • (a) for the month in which the beneficiary ceases to be disabled;

  • (b) for the month immediately preceding the month in which the beneficiary commences to receive a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan;

  • (c) for the month in which the beneficiary reaches sixty-five years of age; or

  • (d) for the month in which the beneficiary dies.

• Marginal note:Application for retirement pension deemed to have been made

  (2) Where a disability pension ceases to be payable to a person by reason of his having reached sixty-five years of age, an application under section 60 shall be deemed to have been made by and received from that person, in the month in which he reached that age, for a retirement pension to commence with the month following that month.

• Marginal note:Effect of receiving a retirement pension

  (3) A person who commences to receive a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan is thereafter ineligible to apply or re-apply, at any time, for a disability pension under this Act, except as provided in section 66.1 or in a substantially similar provision of a provincial pension plan, as the case may be.