RE: question for mski>>synthetic vs. true DRIP Hi stuckinonoway, re: 'in my registered account it is of no matter to me' - actually it should be because if you can get the full deal you will benefit in your registered account with cheaper purchases on the monthly DRIP (in the PGF example).
But to answer the question, yes, if you have an account with RBC Direct Investing and ask to have your account (registered or not) participate in the DRIP programs you will get the 'real deal' - the only issue with RBCDI is they will only purchase whole shares for you rather than what you are doing with PGF to 6 decimal places re: fractional shares.
From my experience:
RBCDI: full DRIP participcation - but you have to do 'all or nothing' - ie. you can't select only some stocks to DRIP in your account - have to do all stocks or none. Your money goes to the company directly (for those that issue shares from treasury - eg. like PBN - your dividend money goes directly back to PBN). Many other co's that don't have formal DRIP's/ RBCDI does the synthetic DRIP and purchases shares in the open market up to the amount of your dividend.
TDWaterhouse: also full DRIP participation - but not aware that they do synthetic DRIP - you can specify if you only want some of your stocks to participate (rather than all or none with RBCDI).
Questrade: only synthetic but you can specify if you only want some of your stocks to participate (rather than all or none per RBCDI).
ScotiaMcLeod Direct Investing: offers DRIP (but was aware that use to be sythetic DRIP - don't know if they still do sythetic DRIP).
Re: share certificate good for you, it was a royal pain in the neck for me with my kids to set up for T.a, BMO and TRP but it is finally done and they are making monthly contributions (the kids are) with some of their newspaper route money).
As far as PBN goes - 5% discount DRIP that they brough in with the mid Feb payment is great - even through RBCDI - o.k. so you don't get 6 decimal place fractional share ownership but as you say it is painless to do and good to know you are personally doing your part to help the company with their cash flow.
Hope this helps - sorry for the lengthy response but wanted to cover as much as possible. Best regards, mski