Bill C-256 Survivor Pension Benefits
C-256 An Act to Amend Certain Acts in Relation to Survivor Pension Benefits
Bill Type: Private Member’s Bill
Bill Sponsor: Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni)
Status: 1st Reading — November 7, 2025. This Bill hasn't passed yet.
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WHO GAINS POWER
- Survivors gain the legal right to pension benefits regardless of when the relationship began
- This applies across six major federal pension plans: Canadian Forces, Judges, Members of Parliament, Public Service, RCMP and private sector plans under federal jurisdiction
- Pension plan administrators can no longer deny survivor benefits based on the age or timing of the relationship
WHO LOSES POWER
- Pension holders lose the ability to voluntarily cut a late-in-life partner out of survivor benefits
- Anyone who had already made that choice is automatically put back to the full arrangement — the opt-out is cancelled and cannot be reinstated
WHO GAINS MONEY
- Late-in-life partners who were previously locked out of survivor benefits now qualify
- The pension holder's living payments are not reduced — his pension stays the same while he is alive
- When he dies, his surviving partner receives a separate survivor benefit paid out of the pension fund
WHO LOSES MONEY
- Federal pension funds will pay out more as previously excluded survivors become eligible
- Pension holders who had chosen a reduced pension in exchange for cutting out a survivor benefit will have that reduction reversed — their payments go back to the full amount and the survivor benefit is restored
THE CATCH
- The cancellation of opt-out agreements is automatic and permanent — there is no way for either party to waive or reverse it
- ⚠️ No opt-out mechanism exists — even if both the pension holder and the partner preferred the original arrangement, it cannot be maintained
- Federal plans only — provincial and private employer pension plans outside federal jurisdiction are not affected