Court of Appeal rules survivor benefits payable and retroactive
The Court of Appeal handed down its decision today upholding the trial judge’s decision to strike down as unconstitutional the two Canada Pension Plan sections that specifically applied only to same-sex survivors.
Lawyers with the BC law firm Smith & Hughes have been actively representing the interests of many of the class action suit participants in this matter. To read the bulletin posted on the Smith & Hughes website CLICK HERE.
The bulletin states “the court observed that in formulating remedial legislation responsive to a successful Charter challenge, one of the key issues that Parliament must address is the extent to which the recognition of the Charter right will have retrospective application and effect.
In so doing, the remedial legislation must itself be constitutional. This legislation was not. The court also upheld the trial judge’s decision awarding the class members pre-judgment interest on any pension
arrears.
The court, however, allowed the Attorney General of Canada’s appeal with respect to the other two CPP sections that were of general application and set aside the constitutional exemption granted by the trial judge.
As a result of the court’s decision today, the class members will receive retroactive survivors’ pensions, limited in accordance with the sections of general application, subject to the further proceedings of the class members before the trial judge.
A bit of wordy legalize with two caveats but essentially a very positive outcome to the government’s blatant attempt to circumvent payment of CPP benefits due to many surviving partners.
The government has recognized the validity of same sex partnerships in Canada. The government didn’t give any homosexual discount when collecting CPP premiums for all those years. Why should payment even be an issue in the first place? And an even bigger question, why did the government challenge the constitutionality of the trial judge’s opinion knowing full well they were not likely to succeed?
It’s not the amount payable to these survivor’s that’s an issue. It’s the taxpayer’s money used to drag out these legal challenges that is such a waste.
When the government initially followed the court’s rulings to provide these survivor benefits, they then arbitrarily set a date for which these benefits would be payable. C’mon guys, it’s like saying you’re “just a little bit pregnant.” You are or you are not. Same with this issue. You either treat all citizens equally or you discriminate.
If you are interested in the origins of this issue of Canada Pension Plan Survivor benefits, go HERE. (PDF Document)
I admit, I grumble when income tax time comes around but I have always paid my fair share. I bristle at the high cost of gas because of the enormous taxation on this commodity so I have simply stopped driving as much. I sputter when my annual MP’s season’s greetings newsletter arrives postage free but I read it before its recycled.
To most of us, the payout of these survivor benefits seems huge. But then I hear Mom-Gladys say, “Better they spend the money on us.”
She’d then launch into her never-ending government beef. She’d say: “Where the hell do those dirty rotten buggers (referring to our elected government) get the money to send it to/for:
>(insert your favourite or add your own: )
- earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane relief,
- famine in whatever country,
- war-torn country where ever,
- victims of ethnic cleansing,
- United Nations [insert foreign aid program here].
Then Mom-Gladys would punctuate whatever foreign aid of the day by saying, ” My Old Age Pension raise was twelve cents this year. They should give us old people that money. They should keep that money here in Canada. Tell me, where do they get that money from anyways?”
Like many widows of her generation, Mom-Gladys depended upon the meager pensions she received. It came as a surprise to me, but some of the survivors who will receive these CPP benefits are close to retirement age.
Just as Mom-Gladys depended upon her pensions, these benefits not only are rightfully due but in some cases will go a long way to providing a better quality of life. A quality of life to which all Canadians are entitled .
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