Editorial thesis / The Canadian Discount
When is the Canadian discount deserved?
The S&P/TSX Composite trades at 16.5 times forward earnings against 20.1 for the S&P 500. A lower price is an invitation to investigate.
The thesis, as a question
The Canadian Discount
Where a valuation gap exists between Canadian and U.S. assets — and whether the underlying risk justifies it.
“Canada trades at a discount” is the editorial question behind this publication, not a claim that every Canadian security is cheap. The S&P/TSX Composite has traded on a lower multiple of forward earnings than the S&P 500 for most of the past decade [1]; composition explains part of that, attention explains some, and genuine risk explains the rest. This theme collects the research that tries to work out which part you are looking at.
Research in this theme
Research primer / The Canadian Discount
Canadian dividends arrive 15% lighter, unless they land in an IRA.
Canada withholds 25% on dividends to non-residents by statute and 15% to U.S. residents by treaty; dividends paid to an IRA are exempt…
Research primer / The Canadian Discount
The documents are public. They are just in a different place.
SEDAR+ holds the filings, EDGAR mirrors the cross-listed ones as 40-Fs and 6-Ks, and three national instruments decide what a mineral…
The record
Desk notes in this theme
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Data / The Canadian Discount
TSX issuers raised C$5.93 billion in August, up from C$295 million a year earlier
TMX Group's August statistics show 29 TSX financings raising C$5,931,925,580, a 1,911% increase on August 2025, and C$18.9 billion year to date; TSX Venture raised C$594.7 million across 77 financings in the month.
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Policy / The Canadian Discount
Bank of Canada holds at 2.25% and projects 0.7% growth for 2026
The policy rate stayed at 2.25% on July 15, 2026; the Bank projects GDP growth of 0.7% this year and 1.8% in 2027 and 2028, with May inflation at 3.2% on oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict.
Data & documents
Go to the primary source.
Use the current releases linked below. We do not display live market data, and a source directory is never a verified data snapshot.
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1
P/E ratios by country (S&P/TSX Composite vs S&P 500)
Trailing, forward and CAPE multiples by country index. Cross-market comparisons reflect what is listed in each market as much as what is expensive.
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2
SEDAR+ public filings
The Canadian equivalent of EDGAR. Search the issuer and filing period; company figures must cite a specific filing before publication.