The government first announced that it would consider providing solvency funding relief for university pension plans on August 5, 2010 (which was consistent with the 2010 Budget announcement that solvency funding relief may be provided to BPS employers). The goal of the solvency funding relief is to support sustainable public sector and BPS defined benefit or hybrid pension plans, including Ontario university pension plans.

Under the proposed relief, eligible plans may receive solvency funding relief in two stages. During Stage 1, plans will not be required to make solvency payments for a three year period while considering the necessary changes to make their pension plans sustainable. If the government is satisfied with the progress a plan is making in meeting certain “savings targets”, it will be eligible for Stage 2 relief, during which any solvency deficiency (that exists after the end of the three year period) will be amortized over 10 years.

Plans with actuarial valuation reports dated in 2010 will be required to file an application by March 23, 2011 in order to be eligible to enter Stage 1 of the relief. More deadlines will be announced in the future for plans with valuation reports dated in 2011 or 2012. The government has proposed amending the Pension Benefits Act regulations to provide an extension to the filing deadline for any plans that must file their actuarial valuation reports before April 30, 2011.

The government is also seeking comments on the proposed details by March 28, 2011. An FTR Now discussing these complex proposals will be available shortly on our website.

The amendments extend certain filing deadlines and funding schedules under the temporary solvency funding relief regulations for two university-sponsored pension plans.

By way of background, Ontario’s temporary solvency funding relief regulations were enacted in June 2009. For more information, please see Hicks Morley’s FTR Now, Solvency Funding Relief is Here.

The amendments are now in force.

The temporary funding relief will be provided through two stages: a temporary period during which each university must develop a sustainability plan for its pension plans and, if the sustainability plan is acceptable to the government, an extended amortization period for funding their solvency deficiencies. 

Amendments to the Pension Benefits Act regulations will be required in order to give effect to the promised relief.

More information regarding the announcement is available on our website.

On June 3, 2010, Bill 43, the Post-Secondary Education Statute Law Amendment Act, 2010, carried at Third Reading.  As previously reported, this omnibus legislation amends Ontario's Post-Secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000, the Private Career Colleges Act, 2005, and the Ontario College of Art & Design Act, 2002.

• the Post-Secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000 to refine definitions of terms such as "degree" and "educational institution", the application of the Act to defined persons, and certain prohibitions. Inspection provisions are amended to more closely parallel the inspection section in the Private Career Colleges Act, 2005. Provisions dealing with administrative monetary penalties, restraining orders and compliance orders are added. Fines are increased;
• the Private Career Colleges Act, 2005 to deal with vocational program approvals and increase fines; and
• the Ontario College of Art & Design Act, 2002 to change OCAD's name to the Ontario College of Art & Design University.