The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that foreign investors are finding Canadian stocks less attractive than in years past, but they are compelling for those of us looking for equity income backstopped by the safety and security of oligopolies and protective moats. Regular guest columnist Martin Pelletier writes that Canada boasts strong companies such as Manulife and Suncor with dividends near 5 per cent, Canadian Utilities near 6 per cent, Telus at more than 6 per cent and BCE near 8 per cent. From a valuation standpoint, the spread between Canada's stock market earnings multiple has widened with that of the United States to a level that has not been seen since 2006. Therefore, investors are getting some healthy dividends and have some free optionality on the narrowing of this valuation gap should there be a mean reversion to historical norms. As a result, you can construct a portfolio with money-market instruments and short-term Canadian and U.S. bonds yielding 5 to 6 per cent, dividend stocks paying 4 to 7 per cent, and structured notes yielding 8 to 10 per cent on average. These opportunities did not exist over the past decade when interest rates and dividend yields were much lower.