2 Canadian Stocks That Could Be Cornerstones of a TFSA

A true Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) cornerstone stock usually does not need to be flashy. It needs to be durable. That means a business with staying power, solid cash generation, and enough room to grow without taking wild risks.

Better still, it should be the kind of stock you can buy, hold, and not feel the urge to check every hour. In that sense, a top insurer and a steady apartment real estate investment trust (REIT) can make a lot of sense for Canadians building long-term wealth inside a tax-sheltered account.

IFC

Intact Financial (TSX: IFC) is relevant now because it keeps doing the boring stuff very well, and boring can be beautiful in a TFSA. It’s Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer, with operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States. Over the last year, it also kept sharpening the story for investors, from uniting global operations under the Intact Insurance brand to approving a normal course issuer bid in February 2026. That tells me management still sees value in the business even after a strong run.

The latest earnings backed that up. In the fourth quarter of 2025, net operating income per share rose 12% to $5.50, while diluted earnings per share climbed to $5.24. For the full year, net operating income (NOI) per share reached $19.21, up 33%, and operating return on equity (ROE) came in at 19.5%. Its combined ratio was 85.9%, which is a very healthy sign in insurance, and book value per share climbed 16% year over year to $107.35.

Valuation still looks reasonable for that kind of quality. As of writing, Intact carried a market cap of about $45.3 billion and a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 13.9. That is not dirt cheap, but for a high-quality compounder with pricing power, underwriting discipline, and 21 straight years of dividend hikes, it still looks fair. The main risk is that catastrophe losses and claims inflation can hit results, but Intact has shown it knows how to manage through rough patches. That’s exactly what you want from a cornerstone holding.

CAR

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (TSX: CAR.UN) fits for a different reason. It gives TFSA investors exposure to one of the most dependable themes in Canada: housing demand. CAPREIT owns rental apartments and manufactured home communities, and over the last year, it kept reshaping the portfolio by selling more European assets while putting fresh capital into Canadian acquisitions and buybacks to improve its value.

Its 2025 results showed that the core business still has muscle. Diluted funds from operations (FFO) per unit rose to $2.541 for the year. Same-property NOI increased 4.7% for the year and 5% in the fourth quarter, while same-property NOI margin improved to 64.7%. Canadian residential occupancy stayed strong at 97.3% at year-end, and average Canadian residential rent per square foot increased to about $2.05 from $1.98 a year earlier. Those are the kinds of numbers that suggest the machine is still humming.

The valuation story is where CAPREIT gets interesting. The units closed at about $36 at the time of writing, while management reported diluted net asset value (NAV) per unit of $56.41 at the end of 2025. That is a wide gap. The risks are real, though. Higher taxes, utility costs, regulation, and softer rent growth could keep pressure on sentiment. Even so, the discount looks hard to ignore.

Bottom line

If I were building a TFSA around just two Canadian stocks, these would be easy names to consider. Intact offers quality, discipline, and long-term compounding power. CAPREIT brings a dependable asset base with room for a valuation rebound if the market warms up to REITs again. Together, they offer immense income through dividends alone on a $7,000 investment.

One gives you resilience. The other offers stability with recovery potential. Put together, that is a pretty sturdy foundation for a TFSA meant to last.