What's New in 2024

The Act amending mainly Acts establishing public-sector pension plans (S.Q. 2024, chapter 33) , assented to on 7 November 2024, amends certain public-sector pension plans.

The amendments mainly concern:

• the extension of a phased departure agreement;
• the maximum age for membership;
• the renewal of notwithstanding clauses in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that provide provisions that are more advantageous for women.

Consult the Legislative and regulatory amendments section on Retraite Québec's website for more information.

Mr. Eric Girard, Minister of Finance, introduced Bill 80, An Act respecting the implementation of certain provisions of the Budget Speech of 12 March 2024 and amending other provisions  in the Québec National Assembly. The Bill amends the Supplemental Pension Plans Act and the Voluntary Retirement Savings Plans Act. The Bill aims to regulate the pensions paid into a variable payment life pension fund and establish rules concerning the benefits payable in the event of the death of the beneficiary of such a pension.

The Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the exemption of certain categories of pension plans from the application of provisions of the Supplemental Pension Plans Act (French only) was published on 6 November 2024 in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

Its purpose is to harmonize the provisions of the Regulation regarding:

• flexible pension plans, with the tax rules;
• member-funded pension plans, with the provisions in force of the Supplemental Pension Plans Act and the Regulation respecting supplemental pension plans.

It also includes the following measures:

• Raising the number of plan members and beneficiaries from 26 to 51 under which the employer may serve as pension committee, if the plan text so provides.
• Providing for the exemption from the financial report audit for every plan whose market value of the assets is lower than $5 million, regardless of the number of plan members and beneficiaries.

The Regulation was made with amendments. It comes into force on 21 November 2024.

An English version of the Regulation is available at Les Publications du Québec – on the Gazette officielle's website .

Retraite Québec has taken exceptional measures to ensure that cheques for the next payment will be available to clients as soon as possible, despite the interruption of postal services.

Cheques that will be distributed during the postal conflict

• Cheques related to the Québec Pension Plan
• Family Allowance cheques
• Cheques related to public-sector pension plans (RREGOP, PPMP, etc.)

During the labour dispute, you will have to pick up your cheques at Services Québec offices.

Consult the Québec.ca web page  to find out the dates on which the cheques will be distributed and how to collect them.

Direct deposit is so simple!

• Avoid unnecessary trips, postal delays and lost cheques.
• Receive your payments securely and reliably.

Contact our client services to sign up.

If you earn $68 500 or more per year, you will contribute more to the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) in 2024. The additional contribution will entitle you to a higher pension in retirement. You will contribute at a rate of 4% on your earnings from $68 500 to $72 300, for a maximum of $188 in 2024. Good news: your employer will contribute to the QPP as much as you.

The 2024 edition of A Glimpse of the PPEMO is now online. It is a newsletter intended for members and beneficiaries of the Pension Plan of Elected Municipal Officers (PPEMO). The newsletter shows the return for the PPEMO fund in 2023 and the latest information regarding the My Account online service.

Do you want to help improve Retraite Québec's services? Sign up to volunteer for our consultations.

The consultations will allow us to better understand your expectations or to test an improved service. They can take different forms, such as discussion groups, surveys or individual interviews. Most are conducted online. Therefore, no matter where you live in Québec, you can participate. Please note that the consultations are held in French only.

Several consultations are planned for the coming year. For each one, we are looking for persons who match specific profiles. We will contact the persons selected when the time comes to provide the necessary details.

Thanks to your precious collaboration, you will help us greatly to enhance the client experience at Retraite Québec.

Sign up by completing this form (French only).

Financially preparing your retirement is essential. You can avoid the subject for a while, but sooner or later, you will want to retire, and it is better to be well prepared!

To better understand financial planning for retirement, to find all the answers to your questions and to assess your financial behaviour, consult our section entirely devoted to retirement, where you can try our various simulation tools. It is easier than you think and it is reassuring to get started.

Start here: Plan your retirement

Consult the new ESG Factors section to find out more about the consideration of environmental, social and governance factors in pension plans.

In the section, you will find, among other things, the results of a survey conducted with pension plan administrators, as well as the actions that Retraite Québec intends to take regarding the factors.

Register now for the training activities offered by Retraite Québec in February 2025.

Since 8 August 2024, the contribution rate to the PPEMO has decreased from 5.26% to 4.81% for elected municipal officials, and from 17.73% to 16.21% for municipalities, retroactive to 1 January 2024.

This change results from the coming into force of a regulatory amendment  (French only) following the improvement in the plan's financial situation noted in the actuarial valuation of the PPEMO as at 31 December 2021

An actuarial valuation of the PPEMO must be presented to the pension committee every three years. The valuation aims to study the plan's financial health and, at the same time, to determine the contribution rates of members and municipalities. The adustment is made based on the PPEMO's funding policy in order to ensure the security of benefits  and the stability of contributions.

We wish to specify that the PPEMO had 1973 active members as at 31 December 2021.

Retraite Québec encourages actuaries to consult the règles de financement d'un régime de retraite du secteur municipal (funding rules of a pension plan of the municipal sector; French only), which were updated to take into account the Regulation respecting the funding of defined-benefit pension plans of the municipal and university sectors. The Regulation applies to actuarial valuations after 30 December 2023.

Two new web pages were added:  Actif et passif (Assets and Liabilities; French only) and Cotisations requises (Required Contributions; French only). The Excédent d'actif (Surplus assets; French only) web page was revised.

Actuaries can also consult the updated Private-Sector Pension Plan Assets and Liabilities web page.

In order to provide parents with financial assistance programs for handicapped children adapted to their reality and simpler to understand, an update to the eligibility requirements for the Supplement for Handicapped Children and broader eligibility requirements for the Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care were announced in March 2024, during the 2024-2025 provincial Budget Speech. The amendments have been in effect since 1 July 2024.

For more information on the Supplement for Handicapped Children and the Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care or to file an application, consult the Handicapped Children section on our website. We have reviewed that section as well as our applications to show the changes and make it easier for you.

Supplement for Handicapped Children

The eligibility requirements for the Supplement for Handicapped Children regarding cases of physical impairments were updated based on today's medical and science data. They are simpler to understand for parents and facilitate access to the program.

Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care

Certain children under age 2 with severe, multiple and persistent disabilities are now eligible for Tier 1 of the Supplement.

Note that, due to the time required to adapt administrative systems, the processing of applications for the Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care for situation C, which is new, will begin in October 2024. The first payments related to that situation will therefore be made as of the fall of 2024, with a possibility of receiving payments retroactive to 1 July 2024. Therefore, the eligible families will not lose any amounts due to processing delays.

Whether you want get an estimate of your pension, buy back one or more periods of absence or apply for a retirement pension under a public-sector pension plan, use My Account. The steps you take will be made easier thanks to a pre-filled and personalized digital application. You will only need to complete the missing information. Go on the Services, forms and tools page.

Secure space, simple steps, personalized information and fast processing are all good reasons to use My Account.

Do you want to declare foreign income outside Québec or outside Canada to allow for the calculation of your Family Allowance payments? File your application via My Account. You will save time and reduce the risk of errors. Go on the Services, forms and tools page and consult the Children and Family Allowance section.

My Account: simple, fast and safe.

The Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting supplemental pension plans (French only) was published on 19 June 2024 in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

It provides for:

• the suppression of the upper limit related to withdrawals of life income funds (LIFs) for persons aged 55 or over, as of 1 January 2025;
• new calculation rules of temporary and life income related to LIFs for persons under age 55, as of 1 January 2025.

The Regulation was approuved with amendments and comes into force on 1 January 2025.

An English version of the Regulation is available on Les Publications du Québec – Gazette officielle's website.

The Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting supplemental pension plans (French only) was published on 19 June 2024 in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

It provides for:

• the suppression of the upper limit related to the payment of variable benefits for persons aged 55 or over, as of 1 January 2025;
• new calculation rules of temporary and life income related to variable benefits for persons under age 55, as of 1 January 2025.

The Regulation was approuved with amendments and comes into force on 1 January 2025.

An English version of the Regulation is available on Les Publications du Québec – Gazette officielle's website.

The list of the most popular given names for children in Québec for 2023 has been unveiled. Produced every year for the past 20 years using data from Family Allowance, the list provides a portrait of the trends in given names in Québec and shows how they are evolving.

Unsurprisingly, Noah retained the top spot for the third year in a row. Meanwhile, Emma is no longer in first place, having been dethroned by Alice and Florence, which are tied.

To find out the trends regarding given names in Québec or for inspiration, consult the 2023 List of Baby Names.

A new list

For the first time, Retraite Québec has also compiled a list of the most popular given names among those applying for their retirement pension under the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) in 2023.

Among the highlights, we note that many people named Sylvie and Michel applied for their retirement pension under the QPP. Furthermore, of the 97 211 new beneficiaries, 23% waited until their 65th birthday before applying for their pension. They were therefore entitled to 100% of their pension, rather than the reduced pension they would have received had they applied before that age.

To find out the most popular given names among new pensioners under the QPP in 2023, consult our infographic  (French only).

Are you receiving Family Allowance? Consult your secured space in My Account now to see the amounts that will be paid from July 2024 to June 2025. Take the time to choose the 100% digital option. Thanks to notifications, you will automatically know when a new document is available. It is convenient and reassuring!

The first Family Allowance payment for 2024-2025 will be made on 2 July 2024. If you have a child aged 4 to 16 as at 30 September 2024, you will receive the Supplement for the Purchase of School Supplies at the same time.

You are about to file an application for a retirement pension under the Québec Pension Plan (QPP), but you realize that all the employment earnings on which you have contributed under the QPP are not correctly entered in your file. In that case, you can request a correction of your pensionable employment earnings via My Account. Go on the Services, forms and tools page and consult the Work in Québec and outside Canada section.

Secure space, simple steps, personalized information et fast processing are all good reasons to use My Account.

Would you like to authorize a designated person to obtain information or confidential information from Retraite Québec concerning you? File your application via My Account. Go on the Services, forms and tools page and consult the Other services and forms section.

My Account: simple, fast and safe.

Retraite Québec has published its Rapport annuel de gestion 2023 (2023 Annual management report; French only). The report covers Retraite Québec's results regarding the objectives of its Plan stratégique 2020-2023 (2020-2023 Strategic plan; French only), Plan d'action de développement durable 2023 (2023 Sustainable development action plan; French only) as well as its Service Statement.

The report also presents Retraite Québec's financial statements, as well as those of the Québec Pension Plan and public-sector pension plans (RREGOP, PPMP, etc.).

Retraite Québec holds personal information concerning citizens and its employees, which allows it to carry out its mission. As a result, it has set up important rules and measures to ensure that information and privacy of persons concerned is protected.

The main purpose of the Recueil de règles en matière de protection des renseignements personnels (Rulebook regarding the protection of personal information; French only) is to raise awareness regarding the rules that apply throughout the life cycle of personal information held by an organization. Therefore, the Recueil (Rulebook; French only) provides all the steps in the life cycle of information, from its collection to its communication, as well as it conservation and destruction.

The rules set out in the Recueil (Rulebook; French only) are intended for all employees, that is, for executive management members, managers, employees as well as any other person who has a professional relationship with Retraite Québec in carrying out its duties and responsibilities.

For more information, you can consult the abbreviated Recueil de règles en matière de protection des renseignements personnels (Rulebook regarding the protection of personal information; French only).

Retraite Québec publishes The 2024 PPMP at a Glance for members and beneficiaries under the Pension Plan for Management Personnel (PPMP). This issue presents in particular the Plan's electronic newsletter, which provides answers to clients of the PPMP on all the important subjects: how the retirement pension is calculated, when a client is able to benefit from the retirement pension and under what conditions, how integration with the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) applies, etc.

There is also an article on sustainable investment related to the members' fund and some details on its return of 6.5% for 2023. It also presents new features that have been added to Retraite Québec's My Account digital service.

Consult the updated Reminders for actuaries section. Instructions relating to participation data have been added. Some instructions have been enhanced and others removed.

Retraite Québec has published its Plan d'action 2024 à l'égard des personnes handicapées (2024 Action plan for people with disabilities; French only). The purpose of the plan is to foster the social participation of people with disabilities, both for Retraite Québec's employees and its clients. This year, 20 commitments have been taken by our different sectors, including six that are new. The document also includes a record of the actions carried out in 2023, which shows good results, because most indicators have been met.

(2024-2027 Strategic plan; French only)

In the coming years, Retraite Québec aims to strengthen its role as a leader in financial planning for retirement. To do so, Retraite Québec intends on stepping up its efforts to raise awareness and information in this field to help citizens improve their knowledge of the subject and take action.

Retraite Québec also aims to maintain the quality of its client services. It will continue offering integrated, simple and secure services to its clients, making sure to adapt the services to their expectations. Retraite Québec aims to enhance its digital services, including those accessible via My Account. To make things easier for its clients, it also aims to simplify its communications and make them easier to understand.

In order to carry out its mission, Retraite Québec relies on a dedicated and competent team. Therefore, Retraite Québec reiterates its goal of offering its employees a unique and rewarding experience that promotes their overall health and the development of their skills.

For more information on Retraite Québec's chosen direction, as well as the goals it has set to carry out its mission optimally, consult the Plan stratégique 2024-2027 (2024-2027 Strategic plan; French only).

Are you retired and do you receive a pension under the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) or a public-sector pension plan? You can use My Account to request, change, or cancel income tax deductions. It is simple and safe!

While you are using My Account, take the time to choose the digital option as your communication preference to not miss anything thanks to notifications.

On 15 April 2024, the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations (IGOPP) will be holding a seminar on governance and investment strategies for pension funds under the theme "Quelles classes d'actifs choisir?" ("Which asset class should you choose?"; French only). Ms. Geneviève Pelletier, ASC, Director of the Direction de l'actuariat et du développement at Retraite Québec's Direction générale des régimes complémentaires de retraite, will hold a conference.

Would you like to watch the webcast? You will find all the details regarding the seminar on the IGOPP's website  (French only).

During the 2024–2025 Budget Speech, Québec's Minister of Finance, Mr. Eric Girard, announced that the government had the intention to amend the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) as of 1 January 2025. Therefore, the retirement pension of persons aged 65 and over who received a disability pension between ages 60 and 65 will no longer be reduced. 

The change being considered must first be specified in a bill. In the meantime, the rules of the QPP remain the same and beneficiaries of a retirement pension who already received a disability pension do not have any steps to take.

For more information, consult the 2024–2025 Budget  page, on the Ministère des Finances du Québec's website.

When presenting the 2024–2025 budget on 12 March, Mr. Eric Girard, Minister of Finance, announced changes to the eligibility requirements for the Supplement for Handicapped Children and the Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care.

The eligibility requirements for the Supplement for Handicapped Children regarding cases of physical impairments will be simpler for parents to understand. The eligibility requirements will also take into account the evolution of scientific and medical data.

In addition, from now on, parents who must support a child under the age of two with severe and multiple disabilities and who requires multiple complex medical care may receive Tier 1 of the Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care.

The new eligibility requirements will apply to applications sent as of 1 July 2024. If you believe that your child could meet the modified eligibility requirements for the Supplements, please file an application as of that date.

For more information on the changes made to the financial assistance programs for handicapped children, consult the Minister of Finance's budget . Our Web pages will be updated as soon as the announced changes are implemented, that is, by 1 July 2024, at the latest.

The draft Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the exemption of certain categories of pension plans from the application of provisions of the Supplemental Pension Plans Act was published on 6 March 2024 in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

Its main purpose is to harmonize the provisions of the Regulation:

• regarding flexible pension plans, with the tax rules;
• regarding member-funded pension plans, with the provisions in force of the Supplemental Pension Plans Act and the Regulation respecting supplemental pension plans.

It also includes the following measures:

• raising the number of plan members and beneficiaries from 26 to 51 under which the employer may serve as pension committee, if the plan text so provides;
• providing for the exemption from the financial report audit for every plan whose market value of the assets is lower than $5 million, regardless of the number of plan members and beneficiaries.

Any person wishing to comment on the draft Regulation must do so in writing before 20 April 2024, to the address indicated in the notice of publication of the draft Regulation.

An English version of the draft Regulation is available on Les Publications du Québec – Gazette officielle's website.

The 2023 Annual Information Return for simplified pension plans (SIPPs) is now available.

The 2023 Annual Information Return for supplemental pension plans (SPPs) is now available in the SPP Portal. To find out about the main changes, consult the Information on the Annual Information Return section.

Is your family expanding? Newly arrived in Québec? Are you separating? Estimate the Family Allowance amount you could be entitled to with CalculAide. Retraite Québec redesigned this tool to make it more user-friendly. If you are experiencing one of these life events, you could use it to prepare yourself financially. The exact amount you receive will be calculated according to your family situation at the time of your application.

In 2023, the RREGOP (Government and Public Employees Retirement Plan) fund generated a return of 6.3%, and the PPMP (Pension Plan of Management Personnel) fund generated a return of 6.5%. For more information on fund returns of other pension plans, see our website.

The annual results published by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) indicate that in 2023, the Québec Pension Plan (QPP) funds generated a return of 7.2% for the base plan and 8.2% for the additional plan.

Consult the press release (French only)

Consult the Actuarial assumptions and methods section for Retraite Québec's most recent instructions applicable to the actuarial valuations of supplemental pension plans after 30 December 2023, but prior to 31 December 2024. The instructions particularly concern the maximum interest assumption.

The two following regulations (French only) were published in the Gazette officielle du Québec on 5 February 2024:

• Regulation respecting the funding of defined-benefit pension plans of the municipal and university sectors;
• Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the exemption of certain pension plans from the application of provisions of the Supplemental Pension Plans Act.

They update and harmonize the rules applicable to pension plans of the municipal and university sectors, of emergency medical technicians, as well as of employees of early childhood centres (CPEs) and accredited private daycares in Québec.

The regulations were made with amendments and they come into force on 22 February 2024.

An English version of the regulations is available on Les Publications du Québec – Gazette officielle's website.

In order to better support parents who file an application for the supplements for handicapped children, Retraite Québec added explanations, examples and certain options with checkboxes on the forms. To ensure we are meeting your expectations, we consulted groups of parents who live with a handicapped child. The information obtained allowed us to better understand our clients' needs and identify the improvements to be made.

If you are between ages 60 and 65, your disability pension was changed in January to offer you better financial protection. Your retirement pension now replaces the portion of your disability pension that varies based on the employment earnings entered in your file. Since January, you have been receiving your retirement pension and a disability pension, the amount of which is identical for all beneficiaries. Both pensions are adjusted to the cost of living each year. For more information on the calculation of your disability pension, consult the page regarding the Disability pension under the Québec Pension Plan.

If you have not already done so, register now for the training activities offered by Retraite Québec in February 2024. The activities are offered in French only.