The same holding, three accounts.
Placement is decidable in a way that selection is not. Nothing here recommends a holding — it compares where an identical one earns most after tax.
Why the RRSP column is not comparable
Income inside an RRSP is untaxed now and fully taxed as ordinary income on withdrawal, whatever it was inside. Setting an after-tax figure beside the other two would require assuming your future marginal rate, which nobody knows. The figure shown is pre-withdrawal, and the deferral is genuinely valuable — it is simply not the same unit as the other two columns.
What the treaty is worth
US dividends are subject to 15% withholding, waived in an RRSP or RRIF and nowhere else. In a TFSA it is deducted and unrecoverable, because no Canadian tax is payable to claim a foreign tax credit against. In a non-registered account it is generally recoverable. Model that separately.
The credit a TFSA gives up
Eligible Canadian dividends carry a dividend tax credit that only offsets tax you would otherwise owe. Sheltering them in a TFSA forgoes it — which costs nothing directly, but means the shelter is being spent on the income that needed it least.
What this ignores
Contribution room, the basic personal amount and other credits, capital gains on eventual sale, the OAS recovery tax, and the fact that a large enough position crosses a bracket. Marginal rates for 2026, transcribed 2026-08-06 (source).