Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act

Marginal note:Allowance to former Prime Minister’s survivor

• 49 (1) The survivor of a person described in subsection 48(1) or (2) shall be paid an allowance equal to 1/2 of the allowance that the person was receiving under that subsection at the time of death or would have been eligible to receive if, immediately before the time of death, the person described in that subsection had ceased to hold the office of Prime Minister and had, in the case of a person described in subsection 48(1) reached 65 years of age or, in the case of a person described in subsection 48(2), 67 years of age.

• Marginal note:Apportionment when two survivors

  (1.1) When an allowance is payable under this section and there are two survivors, the total amount of the allowance shall be apportioned so that

  • (a) the survivor referred to in paragraph (4)(a) receives an amount, if any, equal to the total amount less any amount determined under paragraph (b); and

  • (b) the survivor referred to in paragraph (4)(b) receives an amount equal to that proportion of the total amount that the number of years that the survivor cohabited with the person while the person was Prime Minister is of the number of years that the person was Prime Minister.

• Marginal note:Years

  (1.2) In determining a number of years for the purpose of paragraph (1.1)(b), a part of a year shall be counted as a full year if the part is six or more months and shall be ignored if it is less.

• Marginal note:Period of allowance

  (2) An allowance payable under subsection (1) to the survivor of a person begins to be payable on the day after the day on which that person dies and continues during the lifetime of the survivor.

• Marginal note:Allowance to be paid monthly

  (3) An allowance payable under subsection (1) shall be paid monthly in arrears in approximately equal instalments.

• Definition of survivor

  (4) For the purposes of this section, survivor means

  • (a) a person who was married

    • (i) to a Prime Minister or former Prime Minister immediately before his or her death, and

    • (ii) in the case of a former Prime Minister, to him or her immediately before the time when he or she ceased to be a Prime Minister; or

  • (b) a person who establishes that the person was cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature

    • (i) with a Prime Minister or former Prime Minister for a period of at least one year immediately before his or her death, and

    • (ii) in the case of a former Prime Minister, with him or her immediately before he or she ceased to be a Prime Minister.