Foreword to the Second Edition

• Author: Ari Kaplan, Mitch Frazer
• Pages: 29-30

xxix

FOR EWORD

To the Second Edition

Pension law is an example of how an area of law ca n quickly develop

and emerge as a major subject; not just for lawyers, but also particul arly

for employees, employers, and professional advisers. But even more im-

portant is the cha llenge to society; generally, how it responds to the

myriad of policy alternatives and approaches for the design and imple-

mentation of legislation that is requi red to cover the f‌ield satisfactorily.

Pension law, like other legal regimes such as taxation, builds on num-

erous other legal subjects to make pension is sues even more complex.

Consequently, changes in those foundational subjects call for corres-

ponding pension law adjustments, as can fundamental ch anges in the

economic environment of Canada, as we have recently w itnessed.

The f‌irst edition of Pension Law has met with g reat success. Apart

from being the f‌irst text on the subject, it has been cited by various

tribunals a nd by all levels of court in Canada, and many authors fre-

quently referred to it in secondary comment ary. The f‌ield is a dynamic

one, with many signif‌icant judicial and legislative developments oc-

curring in t he six years since the f‌irst edition. For example, there have

been four pivotal decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada, and t he

introduction of major reforms to pension legislation across t he country.

Arguably, the 2008 economic recession was of paramount import-

ance as an impetus for a second edition. This wa s without doubt a major,

unprecedented, intervening event that tested the coherence, integrity,

and adequacy of the pension legal environment. The impact of that oc-

currence was huge; hardly any entit y of any signif‌icant size e scaped the