What most Canadians don’t know is that the federal government cannot change the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) on its own. By law, any change to CPP—such as who qualifies, how much is paid, or how the plan is managed—must be approved by two-thirds of the provinces representing two-thirds of the population. This safeguard was put in place to ensure that CPP remains a publicly accountable, nationally agreed-upon program.

But in the 1990s, instead of going through that democratic process, the federal Minister found a way around it.

By exploiting an obscure clause—Section 65(3) of the Canada Pension Plan Act—the Minister began quietly signing “reimbursement agreements” with private insurance companies and provincial workers’ compensation boards. These secret agreements allowed insurers to claim or deduct CPP Disability (CPPD) benefits from the very people who earned them. The law wasn’t changed. Parliament wasn’t consulted. Contributors weren’t informed. But the outcome was real—and devastating.

Disabled Canadians began losing access to the pensions they had paid into—without ever knowing why.

This betrayal was never debated in Parliament, never explained to contributors, and never approved by the provinces. The Canada Pension Plan remained intact on paper, but behind closed doors, administrative agreements rewrote the rules. And the only people who discovered this truth were those who became disabled—people who had already lost so much—only to learn their public pension was now being claimed by a private insurer.

This is how the system was rigged—without ever telling the people funding it.
It’s not just wrong. It’s a betrayal of trust.  The Ministers powers were increased and changes were made to other legislation to support the administrative practice falling from section 65(3).

With one hand, the government takes our contributions.
With the other, it quietly signs them away to private interests.

Even in Parliament, Members of the House of Commons raised alarms about what was happening.

On December 1, 1997, during debate on Bill C-2, Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP) warned:

“The losers under the bill will be women, people with disabilities, widows, widowers and retirees generally... It is about reducing benefits for people with disabilities, survivor benefits to widows and widowers and the ongoing privatization of the Canada pension plan.”
— House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 36th Parliament, 1st Session, Vol. 135, No. 41, December 1, 1997, p. 2677

Wendy Lill (Dartmouth, NDP) added:

“I have to go back to the astounding figure of $1 billion being taken out of disability payments by the year 2005... We have to make sure there is enough money available to allow them a decent quality of life in the future.”
— Hansard, December 1, 1997, p. 2685
And Davies again warned of who would benefit most:

“The winner will definitely be the private sector. It will have a huge financial windfall as a result of increasing privatization... The privatization of the administration of the plan will create approximately $500 million in commissions for the private sector.”
— Hansard, December 1, 1997, p. 2678

These weren’t just warnings. They were prophetic.

Instead of legislating changes with transparency and provincial consent, the government used Section 65(3) to sidestep the rules—creating backdoor deals that handed public pension dollars to private insurers.

This is the treatment that severely disabled Canadians must face.  Forced to seek legal means to regain their pensions, at a time of medical fragility and extreme vulnerability,  from the private sector because a Minister signed and Agreement, unlocking the protections of the Canada Pension Plan and then walking away. Agreements, based on an honor system, of a profit seeking private sector. 

 
⚠️ If you are a CPP contributor, this affects you.

You are paying into a pension you may never receive.
Not because you didn’t contribute enough.
Not because you don’t qualify.
But because the Minister may sign your pension away—without telling you.

Sign this petition before you learn the hard way about Section 65(3).
Before you’re disabled. Before you’re desperate.
Before you find out—like I did—that your pension is gone.

We must expose this system.
We must reclaim the Canada Pension Plan for the people who fund it—not the companies that exploit it.

Sign. Share on social media. Send emails. Speak up.
Let’s end this silence together.