Marilyn Gladu is hoping her new private member’s bill will be more successful than others aimed at pension reform.
The Sarnia-Lambton MP pointed to the sharply reduced pension payments during the Sears Holdings bankruptcy in 2018 as her inspiration for Bill C-228, introduced earlier this month to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Pension Standards Act.
One of her neighbors was let go amid Sears’ bankruptcy and was only paid 70 cents on the dollar, Gladu said.
“All the executives got big bonuses,” she said. “That is just not right.”
The bill would enhance pension protection through provisions that would prevent funds from becoming insolvent, require annual pension fund solvency reports to be tabled in Parliament for transparency, and prioritize pension payouts in the event of bankruptcy, Gladu said.
“I wanted to make sure that we had a bill that, first of all, would prevent people from getting in this situation in the first place,” Gladu said. “There should be scrutiny to ensure that pension funds are solvent, that they remain solvent, or that they’re fixed if they’re starting to slip.”
Unlike a previous pension-reform private member’s bill from Erin O’Toole, before the recently ousted Conservative party leader took the helm in 2020, Gladu’s bill would not allow companies to change the type of pension they offer to one of lesser value, she said .
“My view is that when you’re an employee and you’ve paid into a pension that was a certain contract for, you know, all of your working life, then you can’t change the deal at the end,” she said . “You’ve got to keep the deal.”
Another bill from the Bloc’s Marilène Gill died at committee when the last election was called, Gladu said.
The priority payment language in Gladu’s bill for pensions in case of bankruptcy is carried forward from Gill’s, she said.
The part about annual reporting on fund solvency is borrowed from O’Toole’s, she added.
New in her bill is a mechanism for companies facing bankruptcy to transfer into the fund without tax implications, Gladu said.
“Or they could get insurance on the insolvent part while they’re returning the thing to solvency” if the fund is expected to take a few years to top up, she said.
She said she hopes the bill receives all-party support, similar to Gladu’s 2017 bill that called for talks to establish a national framework for palliative care.
Gladu said she drew number 16 in a lottery governing the order MPs get to introduce private member’s bills this parliamentary session. Last session, her number was 277.
“Because I have drawn this bill so early, I would hope that, even in a minority Parliament, we could get this over the finish line before an election is called,” Gladu said.