Pension Plan Notes

1. The Constitution of Canada states unambiguously in Section 94A that Ottawa may operate its pension plan only where a province does not wish to occupy that field itself.

2. The Canada Pension Plan Act, in its first operating section (Section 3), states unambiguously that any province wishing to operate its own "comprehensive pension plan" with "comparable benefits" to the CPP may on three years' notice to the Minister of Human Resources Development opt out of the CPP.

3. Section 113, at the tail end of the Canada Pension Plan Act, states that the federal government may raise CPP premiums only with the consent of two-thirds of the participating provinces. All this refers to is how Ottawa may raise CPP premiums. Nothing anywhere in this section (or elsewhere in the act) limits a province from exercising its right under Section 3 of the CPP Act and Section 94A of the Constitution of Canada to establish a comparable plan.