Think you can’t make money investing in stocks everyone’s heard of? Think again. Here are three (admittedly boring) Canadian blue chips everyone should consider owning in 2026.
Prefer to read? There’s a transcript below.
Canadian Stocks to Own in 2026
Nick Sciple: I’m Motley Fool Canada Senior Analyst Nick Sciple, and this is The 5-Minute Major, here to make you a smarter investor in about five minutes. Today, we’re discussing “The Unsexy Portfolio for 2026.” My guest today is Motley Fool Canada Chief Investment Officer Iain Butler. Iain, thanks for joining me.
Iain Butler: Great to be here, as always, Nick.
Nick: Everyone has been chasing the next big AI stock in 2025, but today we’re looking in the opposite direction. What is this “unsexy portfolio” strategy, and what are some of the names you’re looking at for 2026?
Iain: There’s a line that flies around the investing industry that “you don’t get points for difficulty,” and I think that’s what we’re kind of offering here. So while the market chases hype (I mean, we love hype as much as anybody), but for our purposes here, we’re thinking about companies that are dominant in their industry.
They pay us “rent” through dividend payments to own them. So our goal is to create a stress-free collection.
It’s gonna provide a market-topping dividend yield that will go a long way to help alleviate any economic stability that we come upon in the year and years ahead.
So, two companies that we’ve followed for years nicely meet this criteria. The first one we’ll classify this one as a cash cow.
2 Stable Dividend Stocks for Canadian Investors to Buy Now
It’s Canadian Natural Resources (TSX: CNQ). This is not just one of North America’s largest oil producers.
It’s essentially a factory that prints money as long as the price of oil remains above $40 a barrel. CNQ is a dividend aristocrat: 25 years of consecutive increases, currently yields more than 5%.
Second stock: CN Rail (TSX: CNR). And if we’re gonna call CNQ a cash cow, let’s call CN Rail the backbone. That’s exactly the role that railroads in general play in the North American economy. CN Rail’s stock has been under pressure during 2025.
It currently trades at a multiple about as cheap as it gets, historically, and that just means that not only are we set to benefit from the ongoing sort of mid-single-digit growth that this company books year in and year out, but multiple expansion is likely going to play a role in our long-term returns as well.
In addition, CN’s 2.6% current dividend yield is money in the bank, and while the yield doesn’t necessarily jump off the page, like CNQ, CN Rail has religiously increased that dividend on an annual basis, meaning, in the years ahead, our effective yield is very likely to grow from that point.
Nick: Two strong, defensive, stalwart companies in Canada. But for an investor who, you know, likes things to get a little bit spicy — wants to juice their passive income opportunity — are there any picks that offer higher yields, perhaps with a bit more risk, that are on your radar as we enter 2026?
1 Riskier Dividend Stock to Consider for High Yield
Iain: Sure, and I mean, just like hype, who doesn’t like a bit of spice? Our controversial pick, let’s call it, has a massive 9.5% current yield, and the market has really punished this company as questions have arisen around the sustainability of its current dividend.
We’re talking about Telus (TSX: T), the big Canadian telecom company.
Telus has addressed the market’s concerns head-on, in my opinion, by pausing its planned dividend growth.
And we’re comfortable that the company’s forecasted free cash flows will indeed be enough to cover the dividend that exists. We’re of the mind that the current stock price bakes in a worst-case scenario, and we just don’t foresee that playing out. On its own, the current dividend yield of more than 9% could well be enough
to provide a market-beating return in the years ahead. So that’s, that’s three
pretty well-known companies. A lot of people don’t think you can make money with well-known companies. We disagree strongly with that. So we combine the three, we’ve got Telus, CNQ, and CNR with a blended yield of roughly 5.9%. It’s a tax-efficient and a diversified collection.
Nick: Yeah, may not be the sexiest group of stocks, kind of fits the description of the list, but certainly companies that will let you sleep at night and provide passive income as you move into 2026, where there are some concerns around economic weakness that could weigh on some of the high flyers we saw this past year.
Iain, thanks so much for joining us for this edition of The Five-Minute Major. A reminder to our viewers, if you want more stock ideas from us, click the icon in the upper right-hand corner.
Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you next time. Fool on.
