The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that money manager Ken O'Kennedy has been getting more defensive in his portfolio in recent months amid the global tariff war and rising threat of a recession in Canada and the United States. "We're revisiting our bear and maximum-loss cases [to prepare] for an expected decline in earnings and seeing where that shakes out in terms of valuations," says Mr. O'Kennedy, chief investment officer at Vancouver-based Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel, who oversees about $7-billion in assets. It means adding a bit more cash and bonds to his portfolios, but he is also looking to buy more recession-proof stocks and those for which tariffs will have little or no direct impact. Some examples include garbage and recycling company Waste Connections, precious metal streaming company Wheaton Precious Metals and scientific instrument maker Thermo Fisher Scientific. He has also been trimming stocks that are affected by tariffs such as Apple. Dixon Mitchell Total Equity Portfolio has returned 10.9 per cent over the past year. Its three-year annualized return is 11.3 per cent, while its five-year annualized return is 19 per cent. The returns are gross of fees, which average 0.6 per cent.