Pre-Holiday Pension Barrage

As the Christmas holiday season approaches, there has been a barrage of recent developments on the Canadian pension law front.

First, on December 8, Ontario's Bill 120 received royal assent. Bill 120 is the second phase of Ontario's Pension Benefits Act reform, dealing with such issues as plan expenses, contribution holidays, surplus withdrawals, and target benefits. The bill as finally adopted contains several changes from the version originally introduced in October, most notably with regard to the surplus withdrawal rules. However, the government refused to budge on some other much-criticized provisions of the original Bill 120, such as certain requirements for the payment of administrative expenses out of plan assets.