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Employee benefits also include post-employment benefits which comprise pension benefits (both defined benefit and defined contribution plans) and ancillary benefits such as post-employment life and medical insurance. Employee benefits also comprise other long-term benefits, namely long-term disability benefits not covered by insurance plans and ancillary benefits provided to employees on long-term disability. Assets and obligations related to employee defined benefit plans, ancillary retirement benefits and other long-term benefits plan are accounted for using the following accounting policies: 

• Defined benefit obligations and the cost of pension, ancillary retirement benefits and other long-term benefits earned by participants are determined from actuarial calculations according to the projected credit unit method. The calculations are based on management’ s best assumptions relating to salary escalation, retirement age of participants, inflation and expected health care costs. 

• Defined benefit obligations are discounted using high-quality corporate bond yield rates with cash flows that match the timing and amount of expected benefit payments. 

• Defined benefit plan assets or liabilities recognized in the consolidated statement of financial position correspond to the dif ference between the present value of defined benefit obligations and the fair value of plan assets. Plan assets are measured at fair value. In the case of a surplus funded plan, these assets are limited at the lesser of the actuarial value determined for accounting purposes or the value of the future economic benefit by way of surplus refunds or contribution holidays. Furthermore, an additional liability could be recorded when minimum funding requirements for past services exceed economic benefits available. 

• The interest expense on defined benefit obligations, on the asset ceiling and on the minimum funding requirement is net of interest income on plan assets, which is calculated by applying the same rate used to evaluate the obligations, and is recognized as financing costs. 

• Actuarial gains or losses on pension plans and ancillary post-employment benefits arise from changes to current year end actuarial assumptions used to determine the defined benefit obligations. They also arise from variances between the experience adjustments of the plans for the current year and the assumptions defined at the end of the previous fiscal year to determine the employee benefit expense for the current fiscal year and the defined benefit obligations at the previous fiscal year end. 

• Remeasurements of defined benefit net liabilities include actuarial gains or losses, the yield on plan assets, and asset ceiling and minimum funding requirement changes, excluding the amount already recorded in net interest. Remeasurements are recognized under other comprehensive income during the period in which they occur and reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings at the end of each period. 

• Actuarial gains or losses to other long-term employee benefits are recognized in full immediately in net earnings. 

• Past service amendment costs are recognized immediately in net earnings. 

• Defined contribution plan costs, including those of multi-employer plans, are recorded when the contributions are due. As sufficient information to reliably determine multi-employer defined benefit plan obligations and assets is not available and as there is no actuarial valuation according to IFRS, these plans are accounted for as defined contribution plans. The Corporation is required to pay the contributions negotiated in collective bargaining. The vast majority of contributions to multi-employer plans are paid into the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP). The Corporation and its franchisees represent approximately 25% of the Plan’ s total number of participants. 

## Provisions 

Provisions are recognized when the Corporation has a present obligation (legal or constructive) resulting from a past event, will likely have to settle the obligation and the amount of which can be reliably estimated. The amount recognized as provision is the best estimate of the expense required to settle the present obligation at the closing date. When a provision is measured based on estimated cash flows required to settle the present obligation, its carrying amount is the discounted value of these cash flows. 

Present obligations resulting from onerous contracts are accounted for and measured as provisions. A  contract is said to be onerous when the costs involved in fulfilling the terms and conditions of the contract are higher than the contract's expected economic benefits. 

## Other financial liabilities 

Bank loans, accounts payable, credit facility, notes and loans payable are classified as “Other financial liabilities”. After their initial fair value measurement, they are measured at amortized cost using the ef fective interest method. For the Corporation, the measured amount generally corresponds to cost. 

