Order in Council 608/2018

On the recommendation of the undersigned, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, by and with the advice and concurrence of the Executive Council of Ontario, orders that:

Whereas the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) is a body corporate established under the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Act;

And Whereas the ONTC is the sponsor and administrator of a single employer, defined benefit pension plan with approximately 800 active members that currently provides pension benefits to over 1,300 retirees known as The Contributory Pension Plan of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission on November 1, 1922, which pension plan has been amended and restated effective April 30, 1939, December 31, 1972, January 1, 1988, January 1, 1992, January 1, 2006, and which pension plan has most recently been amended by the amendment dated February 4, 2016 and approved by Order in Council O.C. 610/2016 dated April 20, 2016 registration number 0355164;

And Whereas the ONTC provides supplemental payments under a plan entitled the Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan (SERP) to retirees whose pension entitlement is limited by the maximum pension payable pursuant to the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada);

And Whereas certain non-bargaining employees that transferred from the ONTC as part of a divestment on April 1, 2002 to the Owen Sound Transportation Company Limited (OSTC), a corporation established under the Ontario Business Corporations Act,  are members of the above-described ONTC pension plans;

And Whereas merging these separate pension/retirement plans with a larger defined benefit and supplemental pension plan would be more consistent with the Ontario Government's commitment to pool asset management and increase efficiencies for smaller pension plans in the province;

And Whereas the ONTC and the OSTC have requested to be designated as participating employers in the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) set out in Schedule 1, as amended, under the Public Service Pension Act and in the Public Service Supplementary Benefits Account that has been continued under Order in Council 3044/98 as amended by Order in Council 1905/2009 and by Order in Council 2238/2017, and as may be further amended from time to time (PSSBA);

And Whereas the ONTC has made a number of written acknowledgments set out in the letter attached as Appendix A to this Order including: that it does not have authority to change the terms of the PSPP; that the Lieutenant Governor in Council in its sole discretion can change the terms of the PSPP; that such changes may impact the ONTC and its employees and that the current and former ONTC employees continue to be advised of the same;  and that the ONTC will be responsible for all liabilities resulting from or arising in connection with the participation of its employees in the PSPP including the risk that any workplace bargaining agents or employees could seek to change the pension terms and conditions;

AND WHEREAS the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers it reasonable and appropriate for the ONTC, which is public body and an agent of the Crown, to join as a participating employer in the PSPP;

And Whereas the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers it reasonable and appropriate for the OSTC, which is a public body and an agent of the Crown, to join as a participating employer in the PSPP with respect to its non-bargaining employees who have continued to be members of the ONTC pension plans;

Now therefore pursuant to paragraph 2 of subsection 2(1) of the PSPP, effective May 1, 2018:

1. All permanent full-time and part-time employees of the ONTC are designated as a class of employees required to be members of the PSPP; and
2. All non-bargaining employees that transferred from the ONTC to the OSTC on April 1, 2002 are designated as a class of employees required to be members of the PSPP;

And pursuant to subsection 2(2) of the PSPP, effective May 1, 2018, ONTC employees, other than those who are permanent employees, are designated as a class of employees who are entitled to be members of the PSPP and shall, upon filing a written election with the Ontario Pension Board, become members of the PSPP;

And further that the ONTC and the OSTC shall be employers under the PSPP and the PSSBA for the purposes of all ONTC and OSTC employees who are required to be members or elect to become members of those plans.