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Bill C-54

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SUMMARY

The Acts amended by this enactment comprise a significant part of the federal component of Canada's income support system. This enactment amends the Acts to improve service to clients, to allow for more efficient program administration and, in the case of the Old Age Security Act (OAS) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), to increase consistency between programs.

The OAS is amended to authorize the Minister of Employment and Immigration to waive certain application and information require ments, to permit the Minister to forgive benefit overpayments that occur as a result of administrative error or erroneous advice, to make the retroactive payment of basic pensions consistent with that of other OAS and CPP benefits and to permit OAS clients to cancel their benefits.

The CPP is amended to permit retroactive payment of retirement pensions, to simplify delegation of authority rules, to extend the deadline for divisions of pension credits on marriage breakdown, to permit spouses to cancel assignments of pensions and to permit retirement pension benefits to be paid retroactively to recipients of disability benefits who have incurred overpayments.

The OAS and the CPP are amended to streamline appeal processes and expedite the hearing of appeals.

All Acts included in this enactment are amended to delineate new circumstances under which the Minister may disclose client informa tion and to streamline their administration.