If 2025 taught Canadian dividend investors anything, it’s that high dividend yields come with low dividend safety. There’s a trade off, and a balance somewhere. But there are exceptions, too.
We watched telecom giants pause dividend growth (I’m watching you, TELUS), and a 56% dividend cut at BCE. We saw a whole dividend suspension at PetroTal in November, and a 40% dividend cut at Northland Power was necessary to sustainably finance its massive offshore wind energy development pipeline.
Basically, yields close to or above the 7% scream risk! However, extra due diligence can add confidence when selecting the best high-yield dividend stocks to buy for the long term. The most valuable asset in a dividend portfolio isn’t just current passive income — it’s future cash flow visibility.
That’s why, despite the noise in the broader market, with its 6.1% payout, Enbridge (TSX:ENB) remains the high-yield stock I’m most comfortable holding for the next decade, and at least for the next five years.
The comfort in Enbridge stock’s capital investment backlog
The primary reason I’m comfortable with Enbridge is that its future isn’t based on guessing oil prices; it’s based on contracted “take-or-pay” pipelines cash flows and an expanded construction schedule.
Enbridge currently sits on a secured capital program of approximately $35 billion entering service through 2030. This isn’t “planned” or “aspirational” spending. The funding is allocated to projects that are commercially secured, and “utility-like” investments that will diversify its revenue, earnings and cash flow profile.
Management has confirmed roughly $8 billion of these projects will enter service in 2026.
These projects should generate reliable cash flow immediately upon completion, directly supporting the 6.1% dividend.
When you buy Enbridge stock today, you are buying the current pipeline network, a growing natural gas utility, and a renewable energy stock with a pre-funded, non-dilutive growth pipeline that extends well into the next decade.
A boring, yet beautiful passive-income growth engine
Enbridge’s medium-term financial guidance promises respectable operating earnings growth rates and stronger distributable cash flow profile. While other high-yielders are struggling to maintain their payouts, Enbridge has reaffirmed a steady growth trajectory that income investors should love.
Management targets 7-9% growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2026, with EBITDA and distributable cash flow (DCF) growth normalizing at 5% through 2030.
This creates a compelling mathematical floor for your total returns. If you buy the stock today at a 6.1% yield and the company grows cash flow by 5% annually, you are looking at a potential total return of about 11% per year, without requiring any valuation multiple expansion or hype.
The ENB stock dividend: A 31-year growth streak
ENB Dividend data by YCharts
There’s valuable comfort in knowing that management prioritizes growing Enbridge stock’s dividend payout.
Just recently, Enbridge announced a 3% dividend increase for 2026, marking its 31st consecutive year of raises. While 3% might sound modest compared to the hikes of a decade ago, it looks sustainable. If the company manages a 5% growth rate target for DCF, and perhaps, the dividend, investors who buy ENB stock today could see yields grow to 7.5% by 2030.
Enbridge’s cash flow payout ratio remains healthy under 70%, and with the company projecting $5.70 to $6.10 in DCF per share for 2026, the dividend ($3.88 annualized) is well-covered. Management is effectively retaining enough cash to self-fund that massive $35 billion backlog we mentioned, reducing the need to issue equity or load up on dangerous amounts of debt.
The Foolish bottom line
A 6.1% yield usually comes with a catch. In Enbridge stock’s case, the “catch” is that you have to accept boring, single-digit growth rates rather than explosive tech-sector gains, and Bay Street could add execution risks on new low-carbon projects to the company’s equity risk profile.
But looking at the insiders’ recent data, the $35 billion backlog, the locked-in regulated rates, and the 5% medium-term growth target, I see a company that has already built the “dividend” bridge to 2030. For a long-term passive-income portfolio, that’s the kind of comfort I’m looking for.
