Bill 58 came into force on January 1, 2016, merging the CARRA and the Régie des rentes du Québec

Following the adoption of Bill 581, the Commission administrative des régimes de retraite et d’assurances (CARRA) and the Régie des rentes du Québec (RRQ) have been operating as one agency, called Retraite Québec, since January 1, 2016.

Bill 58 was introduced in Quebec’s National Assembly on June 11, 2015.  Following public consultations and a detailed review by a parliamentary committee, various amendments were made.  The Bill was adopted on October 6, 2015, assented to on October 7, and in November the government decreed that it would come into force on January 1, 2016.

With Bill 58 the Quebec government sought to accomplish three main goals: the new agency, Retraite Québec, is to be a centre of expertise on retirement, increasing the efficiency of the services provided to the public, and enabling the government to save $20 million annually.

All of the services formerly provided by the CARRA (including the administration of 30 public pension plans) and the Régie will continue to be offered by the new agency.  More specifically, Retraite Québec is now responsible for administering the Quebec Pension Plan (with more than 4 million contributing members and 1.8 million retirees), the child assistance programme, public-sector pension plans (with more than 1 million active and inactive members, and over 350,000 retirees and beneficiaries), as well as supplemental pension plans.  Retraite Québec will also ensure the continuation, development and conformity of supplemental pension plans and voluntary retirement savings plans.

While these are worthy goals, some concerns were raised during the public consultations as to whether CARRA employees were sufficiently versatile to work on private pension plans and their Régie counterparts to work on public pension plans. Misgivings were also voiced regarding the adequacy of the representation of unions and retirees on the board of directors of Retraite Québec, and whether significant amounts of public money will actually be saved.



1 An Act to group the Commission administrative des régimes de retraite et d’assurances and the Régie des rentes du Québec, SQ 2015, c. 20

 

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