“I think one of the big challenges is cutting through the skepticism,” Heakes says. “There’s a tendency to focus on the negatives, but when you actually look under the hood, there are a lot of very strong businesses here.”
He points to multiple areas of strength across the market. Canadian banks posted exceptional gains last year. Shopify delivered growth comparable to global technology leaders. Energy and pipeline companies continue to generate durable cash flows. Consumer franchises such as Dollarama and Loblaw remain deeply embedded in domestic spending patterns. Gold equities, now carrying a higher weight in Canadian indices, have benefited from renewed interest in real assets.
That breadth underpins how Harvest thinks about Canadian exposure across its equity income ETFs. Rather than anchoring portfolios to a single outcome, each strategy emphasizes diversification and quality, while approaching income generation from a different angle.
HLIF, for example, focuses on Canada’s dividend leaders with long track records of dividend growth. “Dividend growth is really where you want to focus,” Heakes says. “High quality companies with the ability to grow dividends tend to outperform over time. Simply chasing a high yield can lead to problems.”
HVOI takes a more defensive approach, emphasizing low volatility stocks within the Canadian market. For Heakes, that design becomes particularly relevant as markets move deeper into a late-cycle phase. “Reducing volatility and managing drawdowns matters more when valuations are elevated,” he says.