Diplomatic Service (Special) Superannuation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. D-2)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Diplomatic Service (Special) Superannuation Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

common-law partner

common-law partner means a person who establishes that the person is cohabiting with a Public Official in a relationship of a conjugal nature, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year; (conjoint de fait)

Public Office

Public Office has a meaning corresponding to that of Public Official, and a person shall be deemed to be serving in a Public Office during such time as he is entitled to receive the salary annexed to that Public Office;  (charge diplomatique)

Public Official

Public Official means an ambassador, minister, high commissioner or consul-general of Canada to another country and such other person of comparable status serving in another country in the public service of Canada as the Governor in Council may designate; (diplomate)

survivor

  survivor means a person

• (a) who was married to a Public Official immediately before the death of the Public Official; or

• (b) who establishes that the person was cohabiting with a Public Official in a relationship of a conjugal nature for a period of at least one year immediately before the death of the Public Official. (survivant)

Equality of Status

Marginal note:Status of males and females

3 Male and female contributors under this Act enjoy equality of status and equal rights and obligations under this Act.

Retirement and Superannuation

Marginal note:Retirement age

• 4 (1) Every Public Official who is not a contributor under the Public Service Superannuation Act ceases to hold office as such on reaching the age of sixty-five years.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a Public Official to whom that subsection applies who has reached the age of sixty-five years may continue to hold office as such from year to year thereafter if, prior to each anniversary of his birthday commencing with the sixty-fifth anniversary thereof, the Governor in Council has approved that he continue to hold that office.

PART ISuperannuation

Benefits

Marginal note:Pension to Public Official

• 5 (1) Every Public Official who

  • (a) has served as a Public Official for not less than five years, and

  • (b) immediately prior to his appointment to a Public Office, was not a contributor under the Civil Service Superannuation Act or the Public Service Superannuation Act

  is, subject to this Act, entitled on his retirement or resignation

  • (c) if he has reached the age of sixty-five years or is afflicted with a permanent infirmity disabling him from the due execution of his office, to a pension calculated in accordance with subsection (2), or

  • (d) if he has not reached the age of sixty-five years, to

    • (i) a deferred pension, calculated in accordance with subsection (2), or

    • (ii) a return of the total contributions made by him under this Part, together with interest, if any, calculated pursuant to subsection (10),

    at his option, except that if he has reached the age of forty-five years and has served as a Public Official for not less than ten years, he is not entitled to a return of contributions in respect of any period of service as a Public Official after September 30, 1967.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (2) Subject to this Act, the pension to which a Public Official is entitled under this section shall,

  • (a) where he served in a Public Office for not less than five years but less than ten years, be fifteen-fiftieths of his average salary;

  • (b) where he served in a Public Office for not less than ten years but less than twenty years, be the aggregate of

    • (i) twenty-five fiftieths of his average salary, and

    • (ii) one-fiftieth of his average salary multiplied by the number of years of his service in the Public Office in excess of ten; or

  • (c) where he served in a Public Office for not less than twenty years, be thirty-five fiftieths of his average salary.

• Marginal note:Deductions from pension

  (3) Where a Public Official

  • (a) has reached the age of sixty-five years and has ceased to hold office as a Public Official, or

  • (b) has become disabled and a disability pension has become payable to him under the Canada Pension Plan,

  there shall be deducted from the amount of any pension to which he is entitled under this section

  • (c) an amount equal to one-fiftieth of his Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings for each year between January 1, 1966 and December 31, 1975 that he has contributed under this Act, and

  • (d) an amount equal to one one-hundredth of his Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings for each year after 1975 that he has contributed under this Act.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (4) In this section,

  Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings

  Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings means, with respect to any Public Official, the average of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings for the year in which he ceased to hold office as a Public Official and for each of the two preceding years;  (moyenne des maximums des gains ouvrant droit à pension)

  average salary

  average salary means the average of the salary received by a Public Official during the last ten years of his service in a Public Office or, where he served less than ten years in a Public Office, the average of the salary received by him during his entire service in a Public Office;  (traitement moyen)

  deferred pension

  deferred pension means a pension that becomes payable to a Public Official at the time he reaches sixty-five years of age;  (pension différée)

  Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings

  Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings has the same meaning as in the Canada Pension Plan. (maximum des gains annuels ouvrant droit à pension)

• Marginal note:When age of sixty-five deemed to be reached

  (5) For the purposes of subsection (3), a Public Official shall be deemed to have reached the age of sixty-five years at the beginning of the month following the month in which he actually reached that age.

• Marginal note:Circumstances where amount to be increased

  (6) Subject to subsection (7), where

  • (a) the amount of the pension to which a Public Official is entitled under subsection (1) on his retirement or resignation, together with such amount as is determined in accordance with the regulations to be the amount of any retirement or disability pension to which he is entitled under the Canada Pension Plan (or to which he would be entitled thereunder if he applied therefor and in the case of a retirement pension, it had not been commuted), that is attributable to contributions made thereunder in respect of his employment as a Public Official

  is less than

  • (b) the amount of the pension to which he would have been entitled under this Act if no deduction was made as required under subsection (3),

  the amount of the pension to which that Public Official is entitled under this Act shall, on application therefor by him in the manner prescribed by the regulations, be increased by the amount of the difference effective from such day as is determined in accordance with the regulations.

• Marginal note:Maximum pension

  (7) Notwithstanding anything in this section, the pension to which a Public Official is entitled under this section shall not exceed an amount that, when added to any superannuation or retirement pension or annuity received by him in respect of any prior service under any other Act of Parliament, equals the pension to which he would have been entitled if the prior service and the annual remuneration on which that other pension or annuity is calculated were, respectively, additional years of service in a Public Office and salary as a Public Official.

• Marginal note:Return of contributions to Public Official on retirement or resignation

  (8) Every Public Official who

  • (a) immediately prior to his appointment to a Public Office was not a contributor under the Civil Service Superannuation Act or the Public Service Superannuation Act, and

  • (b) on his retirement or resignation is not entitled to a pension under subsection (1),

  is entitled, on his retirement or resignation, to a return of the total contributions made by him under this Part, together with interest, if any, calculated pursuant to subsection (10).

• Marginal note:Return of contributions to survivor

  (9) On the death of a Public Official who is a contributor under this Act, other than a Public Official who has made an election under subsection 9(1), there shall be paid, as a death benefit, to his or her survivor the total amount of the contributions made by that Public Official under this Part, together with interest, if any, calculated pursuant to subsection (10).

• Marginal note:Apportionment of death benefit when two survivors

  (9.1) When a death benefit is payable under subsection (9) and there are two survivors of the Public Official, the total amount of the death benefit shall be apportioned in accordance with subsections (9.2) and (9.3).

• Marginal note:Amount payable to spouse

  (9.2) The survivor referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition “survivor” in section 2 is entitled to receive the proportion of the death benefit that

  • (a) the aggregate of the number of years that he or she cohabited with the Public Official while married to the Public Official and the number of years that he or she cohabited with the Public Official in a relationship of a conjugal nature

   bears to

  • (b) the total number of years that the Public Official cohabited with the two survivors, either while married or while in a relationship of a conjugal nature.

• Marginal note:Amount payable to common-law partner

  (9.3) The survivor referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition “survivor” in section 2 is entitled to receive the proportion of the death benefit that

  • (a) the number of years that he or she cohabited with the Public Official in a relationship of a conjugal nature

   bears to

  • (b) the total number of years that the Public Official cohabited with the two survivors, either while married or while in a relationship of a conjugal nature.

• Marginal note:Years

  (9.4) In determining a number of years for the purpose of subsection (9.2) or (9.3), a part of a year shall be counted as a full year if the part is six or more months and shall be ignored if it is less.

• Marginal note:Interest on payment of amount of contributions

  (10) When, at any time after December 31, 1974, a Public Official or his or her survivor becomes entitled, pursuant to subsection (1), (8) or (9) or 9(6) or section 12, to be paid any amount of the contributions made by the Public Official under this Part, the President of the Treasury Board shall

  • (a) determine the total amount of the contributions that have been made under this Act by the Public Official

    • (i) prior to 1974, and

    • (ii) during each year, in this subsection called a “contribution year”, subsequent to 1973, in which contributions were made by the Public Official; and

  • (b) calculate interest at the rate of four per cent compounded annually

    • (i) on the total amount determined in respect of the period referred to in subparagraph (a)(i) from December 31, 1973 to December 31 of the year immediately preceding the year in which he ceased to be a contributor under this Act, and

    • (ii) on the aggregate amount determined in respect of each contribution year referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) from December 31 of that year to December 31 of the year immediately preceding the year in which he ceased to be a contributor under this Act.

Contributions

Marginal note:Public Official’s contribution

• 6 (1) Every Public Official who is not a contributor under the Public Service Superannuation Act and who is not a member of a special pension plan established under the Special Retirement Arrangements Act shall, by reservation from the Public Official’s salary, contribute to the Consolidated Revenue Fund six per cent of that salary minus an amount equal to the amount the Public Official would be required to contribute under the Canada Pension Plan in respect of that salary if that salary, expressed in terms of an annual rate, were the total amount of the Public Official’s income for the year from pensionable employment as defined in that Act.

• Marginal note:Contribution not required

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no Public Official shall contribute to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as required by subsection (1) after he has served as a Public Official for a period of thirty-five years less the number of years of service on which any pension or annuity received by him in respect of any prior service under any other Act of Parliament is based.

Marginal note:Service prior to Public Office

• 7 (1) A person who immediately prior to his appointment to a Public Office was employed in the federal public administration and was in receipt of a salary for that employment but was not a contributor under the Civil Service Superannuation Act or the Public Service Superannuation Act, or who immediately prior to his appointment to a Public Office was a judge of a superior, district or county court in Canada, may, for the purposes of this Act, count the whole or any part of his service in the federal public administration or as a judge, in this section called “prior service”, as service in a Public Office, if within one year after his appointment to the Public Office that person elects to contribute under this Act in respect of that prior service.

• Marginal note:Right to elect in respect of part of service

  (2) A person who, by virtue of an election under subsection (1) to contribute under this Act in respect of his prior service, may count the whole or any part of that prior service for the purposes of this Act as service in a Public Office, may, within the time prescribed by that subsection for the making of that election, elect to contribute under this Act in respect of part only of his prior service but only that part that is most recent in point of time, and on so electing, may count that part of his prior service for the purposes of this Act as service in a Public Office.

• Marginal note:Contribution required in respect of prior service

  (3) The contribution required under this section by virtue of an election by a Public Official to contribute under this Act in respect of any period of prior service is an amount equal to the amount that he would have been required to contribute had he, during that period, made contributions under this Act in respect of a salary at the rate authorized to be paid to him on the most recent occasion on which he became a contributor, together with simple interest at four per cent per annum until the time of the making of the election.

• Marginal note:Contribution in one sum or by instalments

  (4) A contribution made under this section may be made in one sum or by instalments of equivalent value payable by reservation from salary or otherwise for life or for a period of years or for life, whichever is the shorter, which instalments shall be computed on such basis as to mortality and rate of interest as the Governor in Council may by regulation prescribe.

• Marginal note:Unpaid instalments

  (5) Where a Public Official who has elected under this Act to pay for any period of prior service and has undertaken to pay for that period of service in instalments ceases to be a Public Official before all the instalments have been paid, the unpaid instalments may be reserved, in accordance with the regulations, from any amount payable to him by Her Majesty in right of Canada, including any pension payable to him under this Act, until all the instalments have been paid or the contributor dies, whichever occurs first.

• Marginal note:Certain prior service not to be counted

  (6) Notwithstanding anything in this section, no person is, for the purposes of this Act, entitled to count as service in a Public Office any prior service in respect of which he is entitled to or has been granted a pension or annuity under any other Act of Parliament.