For the purposes of this article I have taken the yield on 10-year Canadian government bonds as the risk-free rate of return; this currently stands at around 2%. When a company has a wide economic moat, the sustainability of its dividend increases because of the growing cash flow and profitability it provides. Let's take a closer look at three Canadian dividend-paying companies that not only have sustainable dividend payments with yields in excess of the risk-free rate of return but also a wide economic moat, allowing them to grow profitability and consistently increase their dividends. This boring utility company has boosted its dividend nine years in a row Utilities are perceived as boring defensive stocks, and while this may be true, there is a lot to like about Canadian utility company Fortis ( TSX: FTS ). For the last nine consecutive years it has increased its annual dividend. It's up by a monster 188% over that period, giving it a compound annual growth rate of just over 8%.