In today's budget, the Ontario government announced that it
is continuing with its pension reform agenda, but it is not all
"old news". Perhaps of most interest to employers and
plan administrators will be the government's intention to
review the implications of the recent Carrigan case and
its expanded interest in alternative plan designs.
Carrigan Case
As many are aware, the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in
Carrigan went against the pension
industry's long held understanding regarding the priority
scheme for the payment of pre-retirement death benefits. Prior to
the Carrigan case, it was commonly accepted that if a
pension plan member died prior to retirement, then the member's
spouse on the date of death – whether married or common law
– was entitled to the pre-retirement death benefit, unless
the member and spouse were living separate and apart or the spouse
had waived entitlement to the benefit.
