Standing Technical Advisory Committee for Defined Benefit Single Employer Pension Plans (SEPP)

Meeting summary

Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Time: 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Location: Videoconference

This summary sets out the key points discussed at the February 28, 2024 meeting.

General items

  • The committee discussed the Federal Pension Protection Act.

Member-Focused work

  • FSRA discussed with the committee the successes of the most recent Pension Awareness Day including multi-cultural outreach and discussions in media, as well as participation from the Minister of Finance.

Guidance updates

  • FSRA updated the committee on the work on the upcoming plan amendment guidance and the direction FSRA is taking with this. The committee also discussed updating surplus guidance; consensus was reached that a working group to discuss would be valuable.

Defined Benefit Solvency report

  • FSRA provided an update to the committee on the improvement FSRA is seeing of funded positions of plans.

Examinations

  • FSRA provided a reminder of the examinations program using a risk-based selection process and focus on governance and risk management. FSRA is working on information pages and a webinar on this topic.

FSRA priorities

  • FSRA provided an update to the committee on its ongoing and upcoming work on sector priorities.

FSRA exchange

  • FSRA gave the committee a sneak peek at March’s FSRA Exchange and that the Pensions group would break out to discuss principles-based regulation.

PBGF update

  • FSRA provided an update to the committee on the move of investment management to IMCO. The committee discussed the impact of the Federal Pension Protection Act on the PBGF.

Vulnerable consumers

  • FSRA provided an update to the committee on its work to support vulnerable consumers and its relevance to pension plan members.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for Summer 2024.

Attendance record

Invited/Attended

Company name

Attendance status
(A)ttended; (R)egrets; (S)ubstitute; (VC)Videoconference; (P)Phone

Claire Woodcock

FSRA – Director, Pension Plan Operations and Committee Co-Chair

A

Mitch Frazer

Torys LLP and Committee Co-Chair

VC

Andrea Boctor

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

VC

Jason Vary

Actuarial Solutions Inc.

VC

Jennifer Agnew

BMKP Law LLP

VC

Kimberly Houston

PBAS

VC

Louis Duranleau

Norman Beaudry

VC

Rohan Kumar

Willis Towers Watson

VC

Simon Nelson

Eckler Ltd.

VC

Steve Wilson

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

R

Tejash Modi

Morneau Shepell

VC

William Jones

Canadian Federation of Pensioners

VC

Winston Woo

AGS Automotive/Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters

R

Dan Miles Daniel Padro, Dillon De Coteau, Jennifer Mullen, Jesse Heath-Rawlings, Jessica Ramdin, Jisha Sarwar, Joanna Spadafora, Jordan Solway, Karima Shajani, Leticia Cooper, Paul Dempsey, Reesha Hosein, Rhea Tubigan, Stephanie Babb, Stuart Wilkinson, Sylvie Charest, Tamara DeMos, Tim Thomson, Trevor Cartlidge, Victoria Lesau

FSRA

VC

Reet Hess

MOF

VC

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