Canadian retirees and other income investors are wondering which top Canadian dividend stocks might be good to buy right now for a self-directed Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) focused on generating reliable passive income.
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Bank of Nova Scotia
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX: BNS) is down 10% in 2025. The pullback gives investors who missed the rally late last year a chance to buy BNS stock on a dip and pick up an attractive dividend.
Bank of Nova Scotia offers a current dividend yield of 6.1%. This is the highest yield among the large Canadian banks.
The company is going through a strategy transition that will direct more capital investment to the United States and Canada in the coming years, and less on Latin America where the bank focused heavily over the past two or three decades. Changes are already happening. Bank of Nova Scotia spent US$2.8 billion in 2024 to buy a 14.9% stake in KeyCorp, an American regional bank. The company also created a new senior executive position to oversee expansion in Quebec. It will take time for the turnaround efforts to deliver results, but you get paid well to wait.
Suncor
Suncor (TSX: SU) trades near $49 per share at the time of writing compared to the 12-month high around $59. The dip is largely due to weak oil prices and recession fears. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil trades for US$58 per share right now compared to more than US$80 last summer.
Suncor’s integrated business structure helps it ride out dips in oil prices. The company is known for its oil sands production, but also has refineries and retail operations that can benefit when oil prices decline.
Suncor made good progress on its turnaround efforts in the past two years and finished 2024 with record production, refining throughput, and refined product sales.
Investors who buy Suncor at the current level can get a dividend yield of 4.6%.
Enbridge
Enbridge (TSX: ENB) is up 29% in the past year, but investors can still get a dividend yield of 5.9% from the stock. The company continues to drive growth through acquisitions and capital projects. Enbridge bought three American natural gas utilities last year for US$14 billion. The company is also working on a $26 billion capital program.
Enbridge is positioned well to benefit from the anticipated growth in demand for natural gas in the coming years as new gas-fired power generation facilities are built to supply electricity to AI data centres. The company has also invested in oil and natural gas export facilities to capture rising global demand for North American energy products.
The growth initiatives should support targeted 7% to 9% expansion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) through 2026. Distributable cash flow is expected to increase by 3%, so dividend hikes will likely be in that range. Enbridge raised the dividend in each of the past 30 years.
The bottom line on top TSX stocks for passive income
Bank of Nova Scotia, Suncor, and Enbridge pay good dividends that should continue to grow. If you have cash to put to work in a TFSA targeting passive income, these stocks deserve to be on your radar.
