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ARTICLE · 09 DECEMBER 2013

What About Federal Pension Claims?

Aird & Berlis LLP
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The priority of claims against insolvent employers for amounts owing under provincially-regulated pension plans and, in particular, plans governed by the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario) (the "PBA"), has received a great deal of analysis over the past few years.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Sam Babe
Sam Babe
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The Status of Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 and Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act Deemed Trust Claims in Insolvency1

The priority of claims against insolvent employers for amounts owing under provincially-regulated pension plans and, in particular, plans governed by the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario) (the "PBA")2, has received a great deal of analysis over the past few years. These efforts reached an at least temporary peak upon the release of the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada (the "S.C.C.") in Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steel Workers ("Indalex")3, in February 2013. One issue left untouched by Indalex and the analysis surrounding it, however, is that of the priority of claims for amounts owing under pension plans governed by the federal Pension Benefits Standard Act, 1985 (the "PBSA")4 or the new federal Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act (the "PRPPA")5. Despite the deemed trusts created by the PBSA and the PRPPA, and despite some

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