Pension purchase process overview

Visit the Westjet Mainline DBPlus Pension Purchase Tool to get an estimate of the maximum amount you can contribute for a purchase, and the amount of pension you would receive as a result.

What You Need to Do to Start:

  1. Gather T4 Earnings Information In order to calculate a pension purchase, CAAT requires a member’s historical earnings information. You can obtain your historical T4 earnings for eligible periods of employment with WestJet prior to your enrolment in the CAAT Pension Plan from previous T4 slips.

    If you do not have records of your T4 slips from previous years, you may be able to access your T4 slips through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which maintains online records of T4s for a certain number of years. You can access copies of your available T4s from the CRA if you have an online CRA account or by creating an account (more information is provided on the CRA website). You can also contact the CRA at 1-800-959-8281 to request copies of available T4s.

    Please note that under the Income Tax Act, the eligible period for purchase is limited to periods of employment on or after January 1, 1991.

  2. Download and Complete the Earnings Submission Tool Download the Earnings Submission Tool, follow the instructions on the first tab, and complete the required information.

Make sure to review and complete the attestation on the ‘Acknowledgment’ tab. This attestation must be signed and dated. If you do not complete the attestation in full, CAAT will not be able to process your purchase quote, and your pension purchase package may be delayed.

  1. Submit the Completed Tool Upload your completed Earnings Submission Tool to My Pension, CAAT’s member portal through the Message Centre, by logging onto My Pension, going to the "Message Centre" in the dropdown menu, clicking "Send a Message", filling out the "Subject" and "Message" fields, attaching your Earnings Submission Tool, and clicking "Send".

  2. Receive your pension purchase package Once CAAT receives your historical T4 earnings, we will review and prepare your pension purchase package. You can expect to receive your pension purchase package within 30 days of submitting your completed Earnings Submission Tool.

What You Need to Do After Receiving Your Package:

  1. Sign and Return the T2033 Form When you receive your purchase package from CAAT, sign the included pre-filled T2033 form and submit it to Manulife.

  2. Sign and Return the Purchase Election Form Sign the purchase election form from the purchase package and return it to CAAT.

  3. Completion After completing these steps, Manulife will initiate the transfer of your Group RRSP balance to CAAT. You will receive a letter from CAAT once the transfer is completed. 

Frequently Asked Questions about purchasing additional DBplus pension

Deciding to purchase additional pension in the CAAT Pension Plan is a personal choice based on your own circumstances. Visit the WestJet Mainline DBplus Pension Purchase Tool to get an estimate of the maximum amount you can contribute for a purchase, and the amount of pension you would receive as a result.

We highly recommend you seek independent financial advice to determine whether purchasing additional pension in DBplus is the best option for you.

Once you are enrolled in DBplus, you may be able to purchase additional DBplus pension if eligible under applicable pension and tax law. In general, you may be able to purchase additional pension in DBplus if you have an eligible period of employment with:

  • WestJet, An Alberta Partnership before your enrolment date in the CAAT Pension Plan (also referred to as a pre-enrolment purchase).
  • A prior employer that does not participate in the CAAT Pension Plan where you belonged to its registered pension plan.

Only funds from a registered retirement vehicle (e.g., LIRA, RRSP) can be used to purchase additional pension in DBplus. The amount a member can contribute for a purchase is limited by the Income Tax Act to 18% of cumulative T4 earnings (excluding taxable benefits) for a pre-enrolment period being purchased.

CAAT has posted a pre-recorded webinar, pension purchase process overview and registration links to the upcoming live webinars to ask questions to the WestJet pilot pension hub. Keep an eye on the WestJet pilot pension hub for the latest information.

1) Gather your historical T4 earnings information

If you are interested in making a pension purchase, CAAT requires a member’s historical earnings information for the periods you wish to purchase to the CAAT Pension Plan. You can obtain your historical T4 earnings for eligible periods of employment from previous T4 slips.

If you do not have records of your T4 slips from previous years, you may be able to access your T4 slips through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which maintains online records of T4s for a certain number of years. You can access copies of your available T4s from the CRA if you have an online CRA account or by creating an account (more information is provided on the CRA website). You can also contact the CRA at 1-800-959-8281 to request copies of available T4s.

Note that only periods of employment that occurred on or after January 1, 1991, are eligible for purchase under DBplus. You cannot purchase pension earned prior to January 1, 1992, with another employer’s pension plan if that plan was a defined benefit plan. This is due to Income Tax Act restrictions and CAAT Plan terms.

2) Download and Complete the Earnings Submission Tool

Download and complete the Earnings Submission Tool, which you can find here. There are instructions provided on the first tab to help you complete the required information.

If you are unable to obtain T4 information for certain year(s) from the CRA or your personal records, please provide your best estimate of your T4 earnings for those year(s).

Once you have updated the tool with the required information, make sure to review and select the attestation on the ‘Acknowledgement’ tab. This attestation must be completed in full before submitting your purchase request. If you do not complete the attestation, CAAT will not be able to process your purchase quote, and your pension purchase package may be delayed.

Upload your completed Earnings Submission Tool through the Message Center in CAAT’s My Pension Portal. If you have not received your member ID, you can expect to receive it soon with instructions on how to register for My Pension Portal.

Please make sure to review and complete the attestation on the ‘Acknowledgement’ tab. This attestation must be completed in full. If you do not complete the attestation in full, CAAT will not be able to process your purchase quote, and your pension purchase package may be delayed.

When submitting the Earnings Submission Tool through the Message Center, please select “Purchase Request” in the subject line field and attach your completed Earnings Submission Tool using the “Choose a File” option. Once CAAT receives your historical T4 earnings, it will take approximately 30 days to receive your purchase package.

Your employer does not contribute toward a pension purchase for a period of employment that is prior to joining the CAAT Plan.

Yes. As a WestJet Employee, you can purchase additional DBplus pension for the years you have worked with WestJet using funds from your Group RRSP account, if applicable, or your personal RRSP account.

If you worked with a prior employer where you had a registered pension plan, such as a defined benefit or defined contribution pension plan, you could also use those funds to make a purchase. If your pension benefit is in a defined benefit pension plan, and still in your previous employer’s plan, you must transfer it to a registered retirement savings account before you can make the purchase in the CAAT Plan.

Note that you can only transfer a maximum of 18% of your total T4 earnings (excluding taxable benefits) for the years you have worked with WestJet or with any prior employers, if you had a registered pension plan with them.

You can only use registered funds from accounts such as RRSPs or LIRAs to purchase additional pension in DBplus. Funds from non-registered savings plans (NRSPs), cash lump sums, and TFSAs are not eligible.

Yes, your purchase amount can come from multiple registered accounts.

Yes. Your purchased pension grows with the same conditional AIW enhancements as your regular pension while you are actively employed. Once retired, your purchased pension will grow with the same conditional inflation protection of 75% of the change in CPI as your regular pension. Once an enhancement is granted it becomes part of your secure lifetime pension.

Periods of employment with WestJet Encore Ltd. are not eligible for pre-enrolment purchase as WestJet Encore Ltd. is not a participating employer in the CAAT Pension Plan. Should WestJet Encore Ltd. join the CAAT Pension Plan in the future, a period of employment with WestJet Encore Ltd. could become eligible for purchase.

Periods of employment with Swoop are eligible for pre-enrolment purchase. As employees of Swoop are now employees of WestJet, An Alberta Partnership, employment periods with Swoop are considered eligible periods of employment with WestJet and can be purchased.

Periods of employment with Sunwing are not eligible for pre-enrolment purchase at this time. Only upon full integration of Sunwing with WestJet, An Alberta Partnership, will periods of employment with Sunwing be eligible for purchase in the CAAT Plan.

If you are in receipt of LTD benefits from your employer’s disability plan you may complete a pre-enrolment purchase for an eligible period of employment so long as you are employed at the time of the purchase.

CAAT has hosted three online pension purchase sessions on February 19, 2025, February 28, 2025, and March 4, 2025. You can watch this recording covering the same content as the online sessions that introduced the valuable option to increase your pension, including the types of purchases, the costs, and processes associated with it. If you have eligible periods to purchase, such as periods of employment before enrolling, or if you earned a benefit from a previous employer's pension plan, you may have an opportunity to make your CAAT Plan pension even more valuable by making a purchase.

GROWTHplus Investment Account (GROWTHplus) is a new and simple way to save more with the CAAT Pension Plan and is available to you as a member of DBplus.

GROWTHplus is an optional savings account for CAAT Pension Plan members to grow their tax-sheltered savings and benefit from CAAT’s investment returns. With GROWTHplus, Plan members can grow their savings together with the secure lifetime pension they have with CAAT.

Plan members can initiate deposits into the GROWTHplus Investment Account by transferring in their tax-sheltered savings from eligible registered retirement savings vehicles, including registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), registered retirement income funds (RRIFs) and registered pension plans (RPPs). Today, deposits can be initiated until the end of the year a member turns 70.

Visit the CAAT website to learn more about GROWTHplus and whether GROWTHplus is suitable for you.

GROWTHplus is a separate account for your personal tax-sheltered savings. With GROWTHplus you can grow your savings together with the secure defined benefit (DB) pension you have with CAAT. GROWTHplus is in addition to your lifetime pension and does not replace or change the pension you earn. Deposits to GROWTHplus are optional and your employer does not contribute to it like they do with your CAAT DB pension.

In comparison, when you make a purchase in DBplus, you are adding an additional amount of pension to your lifetime DB pension. This means the amount of pension you purchase becomes part of your total lifetime DB pension.

You may contact CAAT Pension Plan by phone at 416-673-9000 (or toll-free at 1-866-350-2228) or by email at member@caatpension.ca. Identify yourself as an employee of WestJet and CAAT’s representatives will help you with any questions you have.