Quebec is asking the Superior Court to overturn the decision of an administrative tribunal concerning two sections of the Act respecting the Pension Plan that affect people who received disability pensions between the ages of 60 and 65.
On July 28 this year, the Quebec Administrative Tribunal declared two sections of the Act affecting these people inoperative, finding them to be discriminatory on the basis of physical or mental disability, contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Act respecting the Pension Plan sets the normal retirement age at 65. If a person decides to withdraw their retirement pension at the age of 60, it will be reduced by an "actuarial adjustment" to compensate for the fact that they will be receiving benefits for longer.
The same actuarial adjustment is applied to people who received a disability pension between the ages of 60 and 65.
In his motion, the Attorney General of Quebec puts forward several arguments. He said that "the purpose of a disability pension is to insure against the risk represented by the inability to hold a job during working life" and that it, therefore, ends at age 65. No contributor can receive a disability pension and a retirement pension at the same time", he wrote in his motion.
He also argued that the Quebec Pension Plan is not a social assistance scheme but a social insurance scheme based on contributions paid by the worker and his employer.
He also argued that the plan is self-financing and that "if the financial health of the plan is at stake, the answers must lie in determining the level of the various benefits or in the level of contributions made by workers and employers."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 1, 2023.
