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Yes, you can collect up to $48,483 in dividends every year, and not pay a single dime in income tax....

TIM HORTONS INC. (Toronto symbol THI; www.timhortons.com) operates 3,588 coffee-and-donut stores in Canada, 859 in the U.S. and 38 in the Persian Gulf. Franchisees operate 99.6% of these outlets....

BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. $31.49 (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; Units outstanding: 265.2 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.brpfund.com) owns 196 hydroelectric generating stations, 11 wind farms and two natural-gas-fired plants. In all, it has 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity.

Roughly 31% of Brookfield’s generating capacity is in Canada, with another 52% in the U.S. and 17% in Brazil.

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BELL ALIANT INC. $26.87 (Toronto symbol BA; Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.1%; www.aliant.ca) sells phone and Internet services to 2.5 million customers in Atlantic Canada and rural Ontario and Quebec. It also provides wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 45% of Bell Aliant.

The company continues to replace copper wires with fibre optic cable, which is attracting more high-speed Internet and digital TV customers. Strong demand for these services is also helping offset lower revenue from traditional phones, which still supply 52% of Bell Aliant’s revenue.

The company’s high-speed fibre optic systems now reach 806,000 homes, up from 725,000 at the start of last year. By the end of 2014, it plans to expand its network to one million homes.
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TRANSCANADA CORP. $49.58 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) may face higher costs for its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump crude oil from Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska. From there, existing lines would carry it to refineries in the U.S.

A court recently overturned a Nebraska law that let the state’s governor force property owners to accept the pipeline. As a result, TransCanada may have to seek permission from individual landowners on the route.

So far, the company has spent $2.2 billion U.S. on the $5.4-billion U.S. project. If the U.S. government rejects the line, TransCanada could use some of the materials on other projects, which would limit any potential writedown.
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SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $74.08 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) aims to track the S&P China BMI Index, which is made up of all publicly traded Chinese stocks available to foreign investors. Right now, this ETF holds 251 stocks.

The $778.9-million fund’s top holdings are Tencent Holdings, 8.8%; China Construction Bank, 6.0%; China Mobile, 5.3%; Baidu, 5.2%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 5.1%; Bank of China, 3.2%; CNOOC Ltd., 2.9%; China Petroleum & Chemical, 2.4%; PetroChina, 2.4%; and China Life.

The ETF was launched on March 19, 2007. It has a 0.59% MER and yields 1.3%.
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POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $91.06 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers; www.invescopowershares- .com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index, which consists of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange, based on market cap.

The Nasdaq 100 Index contains shares of companies in a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets.

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SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE ETF $163.35 (New York symbol DIA; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The SPDR Dow Jones ETF’s top holdings are Visa, IBM, Goldman Sachs Group, ExxonMobil, Chevron, 3M, McDonald’s, Caterpillar, United Technologies and Boeing. The fund’s expenses are about 0.17% of its assets.

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SPDR S&P 500 ETF $187.75 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. companies that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, IBM, Chevron, General Electric, Pfizer, Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon and Wells Fargo. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

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ISHARES DOW JONES CANADA SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $24.40 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of its assets. The fund’s MER is 0.55%. It yields 3.8%.

The fund’s top holdings are CIBC, 7.0%; TD Bank, 6.3%; National Bank, 6.2%; Bonterra Energy, 6.0%; Bank of Montreal, 5.6%; Royal Bank, 5.1%; BCE, 4.3%; AG Growth International, 4.3%; and IGM Financial, 3.9%.

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GREAT-WEST LIFECO $30.32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 999.3 million; Market cap: $30.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 4.1%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) acquired the London Life insurance company in 1997.

In response, former London Life policyholders launched a class-action lawsuit accusing Great- West of using $220 million of London Life’s surplus funds, which they felt belonged to them, to finance the deal.

In 2010, a court ordered Great-West to pay $455.7 million in damages. The company appealed the ruling, and last year a higher court cut the award to $284.6 million.
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MANULIFE FINANCIAL $21.24 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $39.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.5%; www.manulife.ca) sells life and other forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment-management services. The company operates globally and has $599 billion of assets under management.

Manulife’s earnings per share rose 25.0% in the three months ended December 31, 2013, to $0.35 from $0.28 a year earlier. However, revenue declined 2.4%, to $5.92 billion from $6.07 billion. Insurance revenue fell mostly due to lower sales in Asia, where the year-earlier quarter was unusually strong ahead of tax changes. That offset higher demand for mutual funds and investment products.

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SUN LIFE FINANCIAL $38.90 (Toronto symbol SLF; Shares outstanding: 609.4 million; Market cap: $23.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.sunlife.ca) sells savings, retirement, pension and life insurance products to individuals and corporations.

Sun Life mainly operates in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., but it continues to expand into Asia. It has $640 billion of assets under management.

Last year, the company sold its riskier, moneylosing U.S. annuity business, which offers products that guarantee minimum long-term returns even if markets fall.
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TORSTAR $5.67 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $402.8 million; TSINetwork Rating: (NEW) Average; Dividend yield: 9.3%; www.torstar.com) continues to cut costs as more people get their news from the Internet.

This secular trend is working against newspapers and print advertising. As a result, we’ve cut Torstar’s TSINetwork Rating from “Above Average” to “Average.” However, we feel its lower costs put it in a good position to rebound as the economy grows. The company also owns oneof- a-kind trophy assets like The Toronto Star, and it could unlock some of its hidden value by spinning off its Harlequin book business. As well, the dividend seems safe for now.

Torstar is a buy....

VERESEN $16.24 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 201.5 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Yield: 6.2%) owns pipelines, power plants and gas-processing facilities across North America.

A major holding is 50% of the Alliance gas line, which runs 3,000 kilometres between Chicago and Fort St. John, B.C. It also owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, 42.7% of the Aux Sable NGL plant and the Hythe/Steeprock natural gas gathering and processing complex in the Cutbank Ridge region of Alberta and B.C.

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PEMBINA PIPELINE $39.96 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 320.0 million; Market cap: $12.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Div. yield: 4.2%; www.pembina.com) owns pipelines that carry half of Alberta’s conventional oil, 30% of Western Canada’s natural gas liquids (NGLs) and almost all of B.C.’s conventional oil.

Pembina also bought rival Provident Energy in 2012 for $3.2 billion, and that’s now paying off. Provident extracts, transports and stores natural gas liquids (NGLs).

In the quarter ended December 31, 2013, Pembina’s cash flow jumped 39.6%, to $194.0 million from $139.0 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share gained 29.2%, to $0.62 from $0.48, on more shares outstanding.
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BCE INC. $48.33 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 775.9 million; Market cap: $37.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.1%; www.bce.ca) earned $540 million, or $0.70 a share, in the three months ended December 31, 2013. That’s up 16.4% from $464 million, or $0.60 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 4.3%, to $5.4 billion from $5.2 billion. In addition to the contribution from recently acquired Astral Media, the company is attracting more wireless, high-speed Internet and digital TV customers. That’s helping offset lower revenue from traditional phones.

The company added 93,700 new wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the latest quarter (it now has 7.8 million users across Canada). That’s down 10.8% from a year earlier.
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IMPERIAL OIL $50.82 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $42.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is a major integrated oil company with oil sands projects in Alberta and conventional oil and gas operations across Western Canada. It also operates four refineries and 1,850 Esso gas stations.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Imperial produced an average of 329,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 15.4% from 285,000 barrels a year earlier. The gain was mainly due to the start-up of its Kearl oil sands project in April 2013.

The higher production increased Imperial’s revenue by 7.2%, to $8.4 billion from $7.8 billion. However, insufficient pipeline capacity has made it difficult for the company to sell its oil in higher-priced markets. That cut its earnings per share by 1.5%, to $1.24 from $1.26. Cash flow per share fell 11.7%, to $1.67 from $1.89.
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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on stocks to buy as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle....

Investors can gain international exposure through multinationals that trade on New York as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). To qualify as ADRs, they have to conform to U.S. accounting and listing requirements, which cuts their risk....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice that will help you develop a successful approach to investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “While many numbers and statistics frequently prove to be of limited value in judging stocks, there is one that is often undervalued: market cap.”...

This Canadian technology firm is adapting to fast-changing markets by making acquisitions, aggressively cutting costs and eliminating slower-selling products. It is also adding to its backlog as it sheds a U.S. government contract that was plagued by political interference....

BELL ALIANT INC. (Toronto symbol BA; www.aliant.ca) sells phone and Internet services to 2.5 million customers in Atlantic Canada and rural Ontario and Quebec. It also provides wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 45% of Bell Aliant....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $49 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 707.4 million; Market cap: $34.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) could begin work on its Keystone XL oil pipeline later this year after the U.S. State Department said it wouldn’t significantly harm the environment. However, the U.S. government will probably postpone a final decision until after the November mid-term elections. So far, TransCanada has spent $2 billion on Keystone XL. If the U.S. rejects the plan, TransCanada could use some of the steel pipe, valves and pumps on its other pipelines. That would limit any potential writedown. TransCanada is a buy.

IGM FINANCIAL INC. $55 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 252.3 million; Market cap: $13.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.3; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. igmfinancial.com) is Canada’s largest independent mutual fund company....