The Globe and Mail attempts to identify large-cap Canadian stocks with strong dividend yields in its Friday, July 22, edition. The Globe's guest columnist Peter Ashton writes in the Number Cruncher column that one of the biggest financial stories of 2016 has been the rapid decline in bond yields around the world. Japan, Germany and Switzerland have led the world with bond yields declining to less than zero for maturities out to 10 years or more. Even in the United States, the 10-year Treasury bond yield declined almost a third from 2.37 per cent in January to 1.60 per cent in July. Bond yields are now in their third consecutive year of declines. Mr. Ashton searched for Canadian stocks offering above-average dividend yields and manageable debt levels. Mr. Ashton set a minimum market-capitalization threshold of $7.5-billion. He says larger companies offer a higher degree of stability for conservative investors. He looked for above-average yields. He did not include companies with negative dividend growth rates. Mr. Ashton screened for companies with debt-to-equity levels of 1.5 or less. His dividend darlings are Shaw Communications, Power Corp. of Canada, BCE and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.