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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 4, 20 21 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE Publisher Kelly Montague Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Distribution Representative Iouliana Polar Real Estate Kristie Pells Regional Production Manager Manuel Garcia Halton Media General Manager Jason Pehora CONTACT US The Independent & Free Press 280 Guelph Street, Unit 77 Georgetown, ON L7G 4B1 Phone: 905-873-0301 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Fax: 905-873-0398 Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at theifp.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail lpolar@miltoncanadianchampion.com or call 905-234-1019. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFP.CA I want to go somewhere. Anywhere. Road trip. Plane trip. Day trip. Weekend trip. Anything. The funny thing, I'm not a big traveller. Growing up, my parents took us on occa- sional road trips. I remem- ber sitting in the back seat of the car with my sisters, playing magnetic checkers, reading books, complain- ing about the wait. We were not wealthy so these short trips were a treat. It was a chance to see something different, to temporarily step away from our daily reality of work, stress, study and chores to something that was joyful. So, a friend and I began planning for a weekend get- away. We thought: road trip and debated Vermont. We thought: plane trip and looked at pictures of Arizo- na. Halton Hills is gorgeous. Snow-covered Halton Hills is even more so. But I yearned for something un- familiar -- mountains, des- ert, maybe ocean. Some- thing so intense, so majes- tic that it would -- for that moment -- sweep every- thing else from my mind. And as we planned, an- other kind of reality sunk in. How do we navigate the new rules of quarantine? How do we sort out work is- sues? What if the COVID-19 variants require another lockdown? A simple weekend trip all of a sudden became a bigger discussion of cover- age at the hospital where I work, the nursing home where my friends works, at the clinics where we both work and contingency plans for all three places, as well as our responsibilities to our families. We stopped. And a part of me grieved. The grief wasn't just about a trip. It's the com- plexity of our daily interac- tions now as we navigate lockdowns and quarantine and day-to-day restrictions on our freedoms. I miss parts of the world as it was. And I recognize my privilege and as hard as my life is, it's not as hard as it is for many others out there. This pandemic has highlighted profound soci- etal issues of equity. But I miss how simple some things were. So for now, I dream, and hope that as we eventually come out of the pandemic, we will end up somewhere more joyful. Nadia Alam is a George- town physician and past president of the Ontario Medical Association. Her columns also appear on www.drnadiaalam.com. She can be reached through her website. DREAMING OF A MORE JOYFUL TIME FOREGOING TRIP A TOUGH BUT NECESSARY DECISION, WRITES DR. NADIA ALAM DR. NADIA ALAM Column The stock market hit a speed bump recently. A large number of indi- viduals, inspired by social media, pounced on a specu- lative stock -- in part to com- bine their collective force to defeat some Wall Street me- ga money managers. The wealthy pros were betting against a speculative stock called GameStop. As a result of a social media fren- zy, many investors who could be classified as young, novice and speculative bet against the pros and drove the stock price upward. It was volatility on ste- roids. The opposite end of social media driven feeding fren- zies on stock speculation is academia. In the 1960s, Prof. Eugene Fama developed the effi- cient market hypothesis, meaning that stock prices reflect all available informa- tion. A few weeks ago, this was true for investors speculat- ing in the stock. There was information, and that infor- mation informed trading de- cisions. For a brief time, the effi- cient market impacted the supply and demand for the stock, and as a result the stock price went on a roller- coaster ride. The tragedy of this type of volatility is that it can harm an unsophisticated in- vestor. Normally the markets are more rational. Each day, participants decide at what price they will buy a stock while others decided what price they will sell. Speculating is not invest- ing. It is gambling. It is not a formula for repeatable suc- cess. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Orga- nization of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not neces- sarily those of ACPI. Wat- son provides wealth man- agement services through Watson Investments. He can be reached at www.wat- soninvestments.com. THE STOCK MARKET ON STEROIDS VOLATILE SPECULATING NOT A FORMULA FOR SUSTAINED SUCCESS, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column