Canada Government Annuities : The Liberal Government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier instituted the Canadian Government Annuities (CGA) program in 1908. The enabling legislation, Government Annuities Act 1908, allowed individuals and employers to purchase annuities - an amount paid at regular intervals to an annuitant beginning on a specified maturity date - as a means of saving for old age and retirement. The legislation introduced by Sir Richard Cartwright, Laurier's Minister of Trade and Commerce, served as the first significant piece of social legislation in Canada. However, unlike other schemes in Germany and New Zealand designed to ameliorate poverty in old age, the Canadian Government did not contribute funds to the annuities. Rather, they indirectly subsidized them by covering the administration fees and guaranteeing a specific interest rate (initially 4%). The Government also provided a state guarantee for the principle plus interest annuities to be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The CGA offered four different types of annuities:
1) Ordinary Plan: Annuity paid as long as the beneficiary lives with payment ending with death
2) Guaranteed Plan: Annuity paid for life but guaranteed for a fixed term.
3) Contingent Survivor Plan: Annuity paid to one party until death, then payable to the other party until their death.
4) Joint and last Survivor: Annuity payments to two parties, each paid until their deaths
Originally, responsibility for managing the CGA program lay with Cartwright's own ministry, Trade and Commerce but following the Liberals defeat in the Federal Election of 1911, the new Conservative Government of Sir Robert Borden switched responsibility for the program to the Postmaster General in 1912. Returned to power in 1921, the Liberal Government of William Lyon Mackenzie King transferred CGA to the Department of Labour where it remained until the Department of Labour merged with the Department of Human Resources Development of Canada (HRDC) in 1996. Ultimately, HRDC became ESDC, making the Minister of Employment and Social Development responsible for the CGA Branch and its operation.
By the late 1960s the expanded Canadian welfare state, which now included universal health care and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) led to the government recognizing that the initial purpose of CGA program had largely been superseded. Consequently, in 1968, the government chose to disband the promotional activities of the CGA while still offering annuities for sale until 1975. That year a modification to the Government Annuities Act formally ended the sale of government annuities, with the stipulation that employers who had purchased group contracts could enrol new employees up until March of 1979. Thus, while new sales had ended by 1975, the CGA Branch was still responsible for handling the administration of payments.
Civil Service Insurance : The Civil Service Insurance Program (CSI) was an initiative by the Liberal Government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier to create a system of life insurance for Government of Canada employees. The enabling legislation, The Civil Service Insurance Act 1893 allowed the government to offer life insurance policies of a minimum of $1000 to all full-time, permanent employees of the federal government, including members of the militia and the regular Canadian armed forces. The maximum amount was originally set at $2000 but this was eventually increased to $10 000. The first policy was offered for sale in 1894 and the final one in 1954. With the introduction of the compulsory Supplementary Death Benefit for a civil servants, a voluntary life insurance scheme was no longer necessary and the sale of new policies was terminated through an amendment to the enabling legislation.
Originally, the Minister of Finance was responsible for administering the program through the Superintendent of Insurance and, after 1910, the Department of Insurance. In 1987 the Department of Insurance merged with the Superintendent of Banks to create the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Services (OSFI) which then assumed responsibility for managing the act and performing actuarial valuations through the Office of the Chief Actuary. In 1997, this function was transferred to the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Additionally, the administrative headquarters of the program moved to Bathurst, New Brunswick. With HRSDC becoming Economic and Social Development Canada, the Minister for ESDC became responsible for administering the act. Currently CSI, along with CGA is administered by the Integrity and National Services - Atlantic Region Branch as part of ESDC.
