Nova Scotia Passes Unlocking Amendments to the Pension Benefits Act

April 26, 2024

On April 5, 2024, Nova Scotia passed the Financial Measures Act (“Bill 419”), which includes changes to the Pensions Benefits Act (“PBA“) pertaining to shortened life expectancy and non-resident unlocking rules.

While the PBA currently permits unlocking in cases of shortened life expectancy, it specifies that the pension may be varied to account for shortened life expectancy. The amendment in Bill 419 adds a provision to section 69 of the PBA which mandates that a variation under the section must provide a right of election to either convert the benefit to a series of payments for a fixed term or to receive a lump sum payment of the total amount of the benefit.

Bill 419 also introduces new non-resident unlocking provisions. New section 70A to the PBA allows for payment of the commuted value of a benefit to a former member where the member has not been a resident of Canada for the past two calendar years and is no longer employed by the employer sponsoring the plan or a member in a multi-employer plan. If the former member has lived in Canada for 183 days or more in the year, the Act will deem them to be a resident of Canada and they will be disqualified from benefitting from this provision.

With these amendments, Nova Scotia joins a growing number of Canadian provincial jurisdictions that have amended their pension legislation to permit non-resident unlocking.

Authored by Apollonia Mastrogiacomo, Articling Student

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