Best Canadian ETFs for 2017

Canadian ETF All-Stars 2017

By Jonathan Chevreau on March 3, 2017
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Our picks of the best, low-cost Canadian-focused ETFs for your portfolio

Overview Canadian U.S. International Fixed-Income Full list

Home country bias or no, Canadian equities remain the core asset class for domestic investors, in both registered plans and taxable ones. Our expert panel saw no reason to tinker with its three solid picks from last year.

The Vanguard FTSE Canada All Cap Index ETF (VCN) and iShares’ Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF (XIC) each provide broad market exposure to 221 and 250 domestic stocks, respectively, and both sport a rock-bottom management fee of 0.05% or five basis points (MERs, which include the management fee and trading costs, are 0.06%). VCN was launched in August of 2013 so now has three-year performance data. XIC was launched in 2001 and has 10-year data. For taxable plans, the Horizons S&P/TSX 60 ETF (HXT) continues to give non-registered investors favourable tax treatment, by effectively commuting dividends into capital gains that won’t be realized until the units are sold some time in the (hopefully) far future. The fund was launched in 2010 and remains one of the lowest-cost funds in the market: a fee rebate that took HXT’s management fee down from 0.07% to 0.03% is being extended at least until Sept. 30, 2017. Forstrong Global Asset Management’s Tyler Mordy sees HXT as the single best pick for Canadian large-cap stocks.

Canadian ETF All-Stars 2017

ETF	Ticker	Management Fee	# of Holdings	Description
Vanguard FTSE Canada All Cap Index ETF	VCN	0.05%	221	Exposure to Canadian small, medium and large caps, ultra low fee
iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF	XIC	0.05%	250	Tracks Canada's best known index with a very low fee
Horizons S&P/TSX 60 ETF	HXT	0.03%	60	Tax-efficient; rock-bottom 0.03% fee to extend at least till September 2017

About Jonathan Chevreau

As MoneySense’s Investing-Editor-at-Large, he is also author of Findependence Day and co-author of Victory Lap Retirement. Reach him at [email protected], where he is the founder of Financial Independence Hub.