Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. M-5)

Marginal note:Allowance to former Prime Minister’s survivor

• 49 (1) The survivor of a person described in subsection 48(1) or (2) shall be paid an allowance equal to 1/2 of the allowance that the person was receiving under that subsection at the time of death or would have been eligible to receive if, immediately before the time of death, the person described in that subsection had ceased to hold the office of Prime Minister and had, in the case of a person described in subsection 48(1) reached 65 years of age or, in the case of a person described in subsection 48(2), 67 years of age.

• Marginal note:Apportionment when two survivors

  (1.1) When an allowance is payable under this section and there are two survivors, the total amount of the allowance shall be apportioned so that

  • (a) the survivor referred to in paragraph (4)(a) receives an amount, if any, equal to the total amount less any amount determined under paragraph (b); and

  • (b) the survivor referred to in paragraph (4)(b) receives an amount equal to that proportion of the total amount that the number of years that the survivor cohabited with the person while the person was Prime Minister is of the number of years that the person was Prime Minister.

• Marginal note:Years

  (1.2) In determining a number of years for the purpose of paragraph (1.1)(b), 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:Period of allowance

  (2) An allowance payable under subsection (1) to the survivor of a person begins to be payable on the day after the day on which that person dies and continues during the lifetime of the survivor.

• Marginal note:Allowance to be paid monthly

  (3) An allowance payable under subsection (1) shall be paid monthly in arrears in approximately equal instalments.

• Definition of survivor

  (4) For the purposes of this section, survivor means

  • (a) a person who was married

    • (i) to a Prime Minister or former Prime Minister immediately before his or her death, and

    • (ii) in the case of a former Prime Minister, to him or her immediately before the time when he or she ceased to be a Prime Minister; or

  • (b) a person who establishes that the person was cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature

    • (i) with a Prime Minister or former Prime Minister for a period of at least one year immediately before his or her death, and

    • (ii) in the case of a former Prime Minister, with him or her immediately before he or she ceased to be a Prime Minister.

Marginal note:Election for benefit

• 49.1 (1) If the person to whom a former Prime Minister is married or with whom the former Prime Minister is cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year, would not be entitled, in the event of the former Prime Minister’s death, to receive an allowance under subsection 49(1), the former Prime Minister may elect, in accordance with the regulations, to reduce the amount of his or her allowance under this Part, in order that the person could become entitled to an allowance under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Entitlement to allowance

  (2) A person referred to in subsection (1) is entitled to an allowance in an amount determined in accordance with the election and the regulations if the former Prime Minister dies and the election is not revoked or deemed to have been revoked, and the person was married to the former Prime Minister at the time of the former Prime Minister’s death, or was cohabiting with the former Prime Minister in a relationship of a conjugal nature for a period of at least one year immediately before the former Prime Minister’s death.

• Marginal note:Payment of allowance

  (3) The allowance to the person referred to in subsection (1) shall be paid monthly in arrears in approximately equal instalments, beginning on the day after the day on which the former Prime Minister dies, and continues during the person’s lifetime.

• Marginal note:No entitlement

  (4) A person who is entitled to receive an allowance under section 49 after the former Prime Minister’s death is not entitled to an allowance under subsection (2) in respect of that former Prime Minister.

PART IVSupplementary Benefits

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 50 (1) In this Part,

  allowance

  allowance means any allowance or other benefit payable under Part I, II or III, other than a withdrawal allowance; (allocation)

  disabled

  disabled means incapable of pursuing regularly any substantially gainful occupation; (invalide)

  supplementary benefit

  supplementary benefit means an amount determined in accordance with section 52. (prestation supplémentaire)

• Marginal note:Determination of retirement year or retirement month

  (2) For the purposes of this Part,

  • (a) the retirement year or retirement month of a former member is the year or month, as the case may be, in which, for the purposes of this Part, that person most recently ceased to be a member; and

  • (b) the retirement year or retirement month of a person who is in receipt of an allowance under subsection 20(1), 25(3), 40(1), 45(3), 49(1) or 49.1(2) is the retirement year or retirement month, as the case may be, of the former member in respect of whose service the allowance is payable.

Supplementary Benefits

Marginal note:Supplementary benefit

• 51 (1) Subject to this Part, every person who is in receipt of an allowance under Part I, II or III shall be paid a supplementary benefit in respect of each such allowance received in a month in any calendar year.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (2) A former member shall not be paid a supplementary benefit unless the former member has reached sixty years of age or is disabled.

Marginal note:Calculation of amount of supplementary benefit

52 Subject to sections 53 to 55, the supplementary benefit payable to a person pursuant to section 51 in respect of any allowance received in a month in any calendar year shall be determined with reference to the retirement year of the person and shall be in an amount equal to the amount that would be payable with respect to that allowance under section 4 of the Supplementary Retirement Benefits Act, as it read on December 31, 1991, if that Act applied in respect of that allowance.

Marginal note:Exception for first year benefits received

53 The supplementary benefit payable to a person for a month in the year immediately following the retirement year of the person is equal to the product obtained by multiplying

• (a) the amount of the supplementary benefit that would, but for this section, be payable to the person for that month

  by

• (b) the ratio that the number of complete months that remained in the retirement year after the retirement month bears to twelve.

Marginal note:Person subsequently becoming a member

• 54 (1) Where a former member who is in receipt of an allowance subsequently becomes a member and payment of that allowance ceases, any supplementary benefit payable to that person after that person ceases to be a member shall be at least equal to the supplementary benefit that the former member would have received if that person had not subsequently become a member.

• Marginal note:No decrease in amount of supplementary benefit

  (2) The aggregate of the amount of an allowance and the amount of the supplementary benefit in respect of that allowance that is payable to a person pursuant to section 51 for a month in any year shall not be less than the aggregate of the amount of the allowance and the amount of the supplementary benefit that is payable to that person for any month in the year next before that year.

Marginal note:Manner of payment of supplementary benefit

55 The supplementary benefit payable to a person pursuant to section 51 in respect of any allowance shall be paid at the same times, in the same manner, during or in respect of the same periods and subject to the same terms and conditions as that allowance is payable to that person.

PART VGeneral

Marginal note:Right to elect for part of session

• 56 (1) A member who is entitled under section 10 or 32 to elect to contribute in respect of one or more sessions is entitled to elect to contribute in respect of a part thereof if that part is the most recent in time.

• Marginal note:Form and date of election

  (2) An election pursuant to any provision of this Act shall be made to the Minister in the form specified by the Minister and shall be deemed to be made on the day on which the form, duly signed by the person making the election, is placed in the course of delivery to the Minister.

• Marginal note:Revocation of election

  (3) A person may, at any time, revoke an election with respect to the whole or any part of the contributions then owing by that person under Part I or II by giving to the Minister a notice of revocation, in the form specified by the Minister, and thereupon that person

  • (a) is not required to pay the amounts owing under the provision in respect of which the revocation applies, but interest is payable on those amounts to the day on which the revocation takes place;

  • (b) shall, for the purpose of computing an allowance or other benefit under Part I or II, be deemed not to have elected to contribute the amount of the contributions in respect of which the revocation applies, and, if the allowance or other benefit has been calculated, it shall be recalculated accordingly and, if it has been paid to the person based on the contributions in respect of which the revocation applies, an amount equal to the difference between that benefit and the recalculated benefit may be recovered from that person, in the prescribed manner, from any allowance or other benefit payable under this Act to that person, without prejudice to any other recourse available to Her Majesty with respect to the recovery thereof; and

  • (c) may not again at any time elect to make those contributions.

Marginal note:Manner of payment

• 57 (1) Every amount required to be paid by a member under section 11, 11.1, 33, 33.1 or 33.2 shall be paid at his or her option

  • (a) in a lump sum, at the time of the making of the election; or

  • (b) in instalments, payable on such terms and conditions as are provided for by the regulations and in amounts established using such bases as to mortality and interest as are prescribed.

• Marginal note:Recovery of amounts due

  (2) If any amount payable by a member or former member under a provision of this Act has become due but remains unpaid at the time of death of the member or former member, that amount, with interest at a rate prescribed from the time when it became due, may be recovered, in the prescribed manner, from any allowance payable under subsection 20(1), 25(3), 40(1), 45(3), 49(1) or 49.1(2) to another person in respect of the member or former member, without prejudice to any other recourse available to Her Majesty with respect to the recovery of that amount, and any amount so recovered is deemed, for the purposes of that provision, to have been paid by the member or former member.

Marginal note:When allowance suspended

58 Where a former member, after becoming entitled to an allowance or other benefit under Part I, II or III, subsequently becomes a member, payment of the allowance or other benefit is suspended in respect of any period during which that person is a member.

Marginal note:Beginning of payment of allowances and amount

• 58.1 (1) Despite sections 17.1, 17.2, 37.2 and 37.3, if a former member who has not reached 65 years of age and who is entitled to be paid, but is not yet being paid, a retirement allowance and a compensation allowance under any of those sections becomes entitled to receive a disability pension under the Canada Pension Plan or under a similar provincial pension plan, the retirement allowance and the compensation allowance under those sections are payable to him or her on the day he or she becomes entitled to receive the disability pension and the amount of the retirement allowance and the compensation allowance payable is

  • (a) the amount of the retirement allowance that would have been payable to the person under section 17.1 if he or she had reached 65 years of age; and

  • (b) the amount of the compensation allowance that would have been payable to the person under section 37.2 if he or she had reached 65 years of age.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (2) Despite sections 17.2 and 37.3, if a former member who has not reached 65 years of age and who is being paid a compensation allowance under section 37.3 becomes entitled to receive a disability pension under the Canada Pension Plan or under a similar provincial pension plan, the amount of the retirement allowance and the compensation allowance payable to the person under sections 17.2 and 37.3 on the day he or she becomes entitled to receive the disability pension is

  • (a) the amount of the retirement allowance that would have been payable to the person under section 17.1 if he or she had reached 65 years of age; and

  • (b) the amount of the compensation allowance that would have been payable to the person under section 37.2 if he or she had reached 65 years of age.