If you’re looking for a perfect Canadian stock to buy and hold for lifelong income, you may not want to start by searching for the highest yield on the TSX. Instead, you should ideally start by asking which company you could realistically imagine owning through recessions, bull markets, interest-rate swings, and whatever else the next few decades bring.
Considering these qualities, Fortis (TSX: FTS) is definitely one of the top Canadian stocks that immediately comes to mind. Investing in electricity and natural gas infrastructure may not sound very exciting, but that’s partly why you should prefer this reliable business.
In this article, I’ll explain why Fortis could be one of the closest things to a practically perfect Canadian stock for investors seeking dependable income for decades.
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Fortis stock
To put it simply, this St. John’s-headquartered Canadian firm owns a well-diversified portfolio of regulated electric and gas utilities. Its operations serve customers across five Canadian provinces, 10 U.S. states, and the Cayman Islands. That regulated business model gives Fortis a largely predictable earnings base while supporting its ongoing investments in essential infrastructure.
FTS stock is roughly 9% below its 52-week high, although it’s still up about 12% over the last year. As a result, the stock now trades at $76.39 per share with a market cap of about $39 billion. The company also rewards investors with dependable dividends, with its annualized yield currently standing at 3.4%.
What makes the recent pullback in FTS stock even more interesting is the fact that the company is continuing to deliver solid business performance. In the second quarter, its net earnings attributable to common shareholders rose about 3% year-over-year (YoY) to $396 million. Similarly, the utility firm’s earnings per share also improved to $0.78 from $0.76 a year ago.
Rate-base growth across Fortis’s utilities and higher retail electricity sales at UNS Energy helped drive that improvement. However, the timing of operating expenses at UNS Energy, higher holding-company finance costs, foreign exchange effects, and the impact of businesses sold in 2025 affected its earnings growth.
A long runway for dividend growth
The real appeal of this lifelong income stock becomes much clearer when you look beyond one quarter and focus on Fortis’s investment plans. The utility giant invested about $2.7 billion during the first half of 2026 and said its $5.6 billion annual capital plan remains on track. More importantly, Fortis has laid out a $28.8 billion five-year capital plan designed to expand its regulated asset base.
That spending is expected to increase the company’s midyear rate base from $42.4 billion in 2025 to $57.9 billion by 2030. This translates into a five-year compound annual growth rate of 7%. Fortis expects that rate-base expansion to support earnings growth and annual dividend increases of 4% to 6% through 2030.
Recently, British Columbia approved the Phase 1B expansion of FortisBC Energy’s Tilbury liquefied natural gas facility, with a project cost allowance of up to $2.2 billion. The company also placed its 200-megawatt Roadrunner Reserve II battery storage project in Arizona into service in June.
These are some of the key reasons why I believe Fortis offers an appealing combination for investors seeking lifelong income. Its regulated operations provide stability, its large capital program supports long-term growth, and its consistent dividend growth guidance makes FTS stock really attractive to buy and hold for the long term.
