40. In this division, “period of continuous membership” means the period included between the date on which a member joins a connected pension plan to which the employer is party, unless such membership immediately follows the member’s cessation of active membership in another connected plan to which the same employer is party, provided the member does not immediately join another, similar plan. The member’s period of continuous membership ends, however, when he changes employer, except in the event of a substitution authorized by Retraite Québec.