The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that the Canadian stock market has a mixed reputation; while the U.S. leads in innovation and artificial intelligence, the Toronto Stock Exchange is often viewed as dominated by a few oligopolies. The Globe's Tim Shufelt concedes there is heavy concentration in certain Canadian sectors, including banking, railways, telecoms and grocers. They evolved this way in part to avoid being swallowed by American competition. Canadian consumers complain about the lack of choice, and rightfully so. Oligopolies, however, are great investments. A few years ago, CIBC World Markets analyst Ian de Verteuil showed that all four of these oligopolies generated annual total returns in the double digits over the prior 30 years, easily outpacing the rest of the market. Mr. Shufelt says we have "banks up the wazoo." Canada's banks are among the world's most profitable, with fat profit margins. The financial sector accounts for over 40 per cent of total profits in the S&P/TSX Composite Index. To a decent extent, those profits are sheltered from the tariffs Mr. Trump chronically threatens. A recession causing a spike in bankruptcies, however, would squeeze bank profits due to loan losses.