No. 87, Pension Benefits Act (amended) - Third Reading

Unlike the member for Northside-Westmount, I’m not an accountant. I don’t have a finance background. When I look at these bills, I like to think about them from the perspective of my constituents and how they impact their lives. This is a good bill, at least as far as we understand it.

Especially with the onset of the pandemic in the early days, as people were losing employment and concerned about their future, I think many MLAs in this Chamber would have had people approaching them about accessing funds in their pensions. Even though theoretically that was possible, practically it wasn’t really. It was just too difficult of a process. It was costly. It was complicated. It was time-consuming, and it was very difficult.

The intent of this bill, as we understand it, is to simplify that and to remove the superintendent. We’re certainly hopeful that that will streamline the process. Time will tell. It does, again, seem to be best practice.

We hope that people won’t have to access their pensions because - of course, there’s a reason that they have them - but that people will have access to their own funds in exigent circumstances is a good thing.