Canadian investors looking to create meaningful passive income streams over the long-term have a rare window right now. Volatility has pushed yields higher on some blue-chip names, even as their long-term cash‑flow stories remain intact.
For patient investors, that combination is usually a sign to quietly double up. Here are three such stocks that look like solid opportunities today to me.
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BCE Inc.
BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) has been in the penalty box since its 2025 dividend cut. Indeed, the stock’s performance below speaks to the chagrin investors feel around putting capital to work in this name, at least of late.
That said, I think this dividend reset is exactly what makes the current yield more sustainable than before. BCE’s management team brought its payout ratio down to roughly the mid‑30% range, giving itself breathing room in a higher‑rate world. At around the mid‑$30s per share and a near-5% yield, you’re getting paid nicely to hold a national telecom franchise with entrenched market share.
Telecom demand doesn’t disappear in a slowdown. Indeed, if anything, data usage keeps grinding higher as households prioritize connectivity over discretionary extras. BCE’s cost cuts and capital intensity should ease as major fibre and wireless build‑outs mature. Ultimately, I think this will continue to support free cash flow and future dividend growth from a more conservative base.
Enbridge
Enbridge (TSX: ENB) is another name investors love to complain about, mostly because the share price has treaded water while the business has slowly gotten better. Today, you can lock in a robust dividend yield in the low‑5% range from a diversified energy infrastructure giant that moves a massive share of North America’s oil and gas.
That payout is backed by long‑term, largely contracted cash flows that are far less sensitive to commodity swings than producers. With roughly three consecutive decades of annual dividend hikes supporting Enbridge stock, the company’s 5.3% dividend yield remains one of the most lucrative in the TSX, in my view.
As new projects come to light, I think Enbridge’s world-class (and unmatched) network of laid pipe should provide excellent long-term revenue and earnings growth visibility.
Doubling up here is about embracing slow‑and‑steady total returns. I think mid‑single‑digit dividend growth layered on top of an already fat yield should deliver the right mix of total returns most investors are after.
Fortis
If BCE and Enbridge are the controversial dividend/value plays, Fortis (TSX: FTS) is the quiet compounder you build around.
This regulated utility owns a portfolio of electricity and gas businesses across North America, producing highly predictable cash flows. Management has laid out a roughly $25 billion capital plan through 2028 that should drive its rate base (and therefore, its margins and earnings) around 6% higher each year.
Fortis has increased its dividend for more than 50 consecutive years and is guiding for 4% to 6% annual dividend growth through 2028. That’s a strategy I think is supported by reality, given the quality of Fortis’ conservative balance sheet. That’s the kind of visibility few sectors can offer right now.
For TFSA and RRSP investors, doubling up on Fortis can turn market volatility into an opportunity to secure a growing income stream from a business designed to be boring. That is, in the best possible way.
