My main concern with Mr. Cooksley's letter is whether or not people realize that the capital gains exemption (actually called the "Capital Gains Deduction") does not apply to an individual holding publicly listed shares (as he indicated was his case). As per the CRA: 

The capital gains deduction can be applied against taxable capital gains included in 2016 income that arose from:
- dispositions of qualified small business corporation shares;
- dispositions of qualified farm or fishing property; and
- reserves brought into income in 2016, from any of the above.
The capital gains deduction cannot be applied to taxable capital gains arising from dispositions of publicly traded shares and mutual funds, and other gains that are reported in sections 3 to 8 of Schedule 3.

Therefore, if claiming a capital gains exemption on shares held on the open market are part of anybody's retirement plan, it may be worthwhile to revisit what the expected after-tax funds will actually be.