Optimism #96 - June 16, 2026 - The Moose Edition
Dear clients and friends,
Dividends are up, insiders continue to buy and the markets are far stronger than I expected.
Here is an article from the Globe and Mail about teaching kids to invest. I like the part about making it a normal part of life.
This one is not so optimistic, the idea of cutting OAS benefits.
From the Globe and Mail: As Canada faces crippling debt, it must do the unpopular thing and cut elderly benefits.
Just a reminder for anyone spending more than about 120 days last year in the US, get your IRS 8840 forms in, declaring that you have closer ties to Canada and are a snow bird and only there for the good weather.
Courtesy of Dividend Growth and Retirement, here is a list of May dividend increases:
1. Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (TSE:OR): 18.2% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 5 years, Yield: 0.7%]
2. Industrial Alliance (TSE:IAG): 11.1% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 12 years, Yield: 2.6%]
3. Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L): 10.0% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 14 years, Yield: 1.0%]
4. George Weston Ltd (TSE:WN): 8.0% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 14 years, Yield: 1.3%]
5. Finning International (TSE:FTT): 7.4% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 24 years, Yield: 1.2%]
6. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY): 7.3% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 15 years, Yield: 2.7%] 2nd increase in a year.
7. Propel Holdings Inc. (TSE:PRL): 6.7% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 5 years, Yield: 4.2%] 4th increase in a year.
8. National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA): 6.5% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 16 years, Yield: 2.6%] 2nd increase in a year.
9. Sunlife (TSE:SLF): 4.3% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 11 years, Yield: 3.9%] 2nd increase in a year.
10. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD): 3.7% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 15 years, Yield: 2.8%] 2nd increase in a year.
11. CT Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:CRT.UN): 3.5% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 13 years, Yield: 5.6%]
12. Topaz Energy Corp. (TSE:TPZ): 2.9% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 6 years, Yield: 4.4%]
13. Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. (TSE:PEY): 9.1% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 0 years, Yield: 5.8%]
14. Caribbean Utilities Company Ltd. (TSE:CUP.U): 5.3% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 3 years, Yield: 8.0%]
15. Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS): 3.6% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 4 years, Yield: 4.1%]
16. Pembina Pipeline (TSE:PPL): 3.5% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 4 years, Yield: 4.6%]
17. Equitable Group Inc. (TSE:EQB): 3.4% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 4 years, Yield: 2.1%] 4th increase in a year.
18. Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO): 2.4% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 4 years, Yield: 3.1%] 2nd increase in a year.
19. Russel Metals Inc. (TSE:RUS): 2.3% Dividend Increase [Dividend Streak: 3 years, Yield: 2.8%]
One would think that gold and gold stocks would trade in tandem, but that is not the case. David Leeder wrote in the Globe and Mail today that:
“Gold prices year-to-date have increased by 60 per cent, while gold equities have outperformed sharply, increasing 139 per cent.
I was mountain biking two weeks ago with my friend Pete. We heard a strange sounding bird near Lost Lake. I had heard a similar sound from a distressed fawn a year before, so we decided to go around to the other side of the little lake, more like a pond, and see what the commotion was about. Stuck in the mud, was a baby moose, all alone. She was maybe 2 weeks old I surmise. Her mother was nowhere to be seen. Pete is quite the outdoorsman and was concerned that the mother would trample us if we got near the baby.
When we got near, she stopped making the distressed sound. Not sure if she figured she was being saved or soon to be moose burgers.
We decided to wade into the knee-deep mud and save her. You can see from the photo how deep the mud line is on her body. Mud in our shoes, around our watches and gloves… everywhere. And the smell… yuck. Tamara was not impressed when I got home.
We pulled her out, like a chocolate lab with legs of a giraffe. I carried her out of the mud in both arms like a light load of chopped firewood, maybe 50 pounds at most. Is there anything more Canadian than saving a moose?
Tired, hungry and cold, she just sat with us for five or ten minutes, then gathered the strength to stand, sort of like Disney’s Bambi was on the ice, and awkwardly sauntered off.
Hopefully she is reunited with her mother but we don’t know at this point.
It’s one of those experiences I will never forget.
Have a wonderful summer.
Derek Moran
