In a detailed 39-page decision handed down on October 8, 2010, the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a 1997 decision by Ontario Supreme Court Justice A. De Lothiniere Panet that members of eighteen unions and pensioners groups had no right to any part of the surplus taken from federal pension plans.
FSNA's National office in Ottawa stated on its website that the Association was "disappointed" to hear that the Ontario Court of Appeal had dismissed the appeal, which challenged the authority of the federal government to withdraw $28 billion of the surplus accumulated in the three public sector superannuation accounts.
An article published in the Ottawa Citizen on October 12 reported that the appeal judges ". . . had rejected the claims and largely accepted the previous ruling that the pension fund was not a trust fund and the government didn't breach any fiduciary duties by writing down the surplus and passing a law to take the money from the superannuation plans."
In addition, the newspaper added that the decision upheld that the government had the legal authority to take the surplus when it passed Bill C-78, the legislation that created a new pension plan and allowed the government to take the surplus funds. In effect, this meant that the pension accounts did not hold real cash and assets but were bookkeeping accounts. The funds were transferred into the consolidated revenue Fund (CRF) and became "public monies to be used by the government for public purposes."
If anyone is interested in reading the decision, we have managed to boil it down from 39 to 19 pages. You may request a copy by telephoning 519-439-3762. It will be available by email only. In the meantime, our National Executive has met with their co-plaintiffs and the decision was made to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Now should the Supreme Court of Canada agree to hear the appeal and if the ultimate outcome is favourable to the pension plan contributors, the $28 billion surplus would be returned to the public service, the Canadian Forces and the RCMP superannuation accounts and not directly to the superannuation plan members.
The National Board of Directors has given its approval for FSNA to pursue the case because the incremental costs to do so are small. More importantly, FSNA wants to convey a clear message to the government that the withdrawal of the $28 billion from the surplus accumulated in the pension funds was unacceptable and that the government should never take such action again in the future.
The full decision can be read on the internet at this address:
www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/october/2010ONCA0657.pdf
London Branch News