Hi,
it's not tax exemption, you just get favourable treatment for dividends from Canadian companies from the CRA.
Have a read of Canadian Couch Potato - it really is an excellent site.
In short - you want Bonds and REITS in your TFSA, foreign stocks in your RRSP (especially US$), and CAD$ stocks unregistered.
Not that you *WANT* your CAD stocks unregistered, but if you don't have TFSA or RRSP room, sticking them unregistered is most tax efficient (as you get enhanced dividend tax credit - which is basically saying "these Canadian companies have already paid tax on this money, so you don't have to).
Canadian Couch Potato has a section on model portfolios, which includes the TD ones.
You can get 3% at People's Trust in their TFSA if you want to have some emergency cash. No guarantee how long that rate'll be around, but I believe it to be better than most GICs.
An alternative is Questrade where you can buy ETFs commission free, now. Selling will cost $5. You can open TFSA, RRSP and "margin" accounts (but be careful with those!).
RBC has some "ok" mutual funds; not sure which bank/s you're currently with. As in, Canadian Index is 0.7% or so, as is the US Index. Ignore anything > 1%!!