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© ae OPINION -FEDS MISMANAGED HANDLING OF = SITUATION LEAVES & A LOT TO BE 2 DESIRED, WRITES MICHAEL CHONG ton Hills | Thursday, June 23, MICHAEL CHONG Column Trudeau govern- for domestic and outgoing international air travel. The decision to lift the mandates took far too long. The government has mis- managed the reopening for air travel. Massive delays in pro- cessing passport applica- April, Passport Canada re- ceived ng 000 passport ap- plicati to 69,000 in April 2021. The es- timated processing time is now nine weeks — plus mail time. The government has been totally unprepared to handle the surge in travel. This should have no surprise after the travel restrictions of the last two years. The government is ase aware of when pass: have aniepated thea toe ane delays at To- ineptitude. For months, travellers at Pearson - — TRAVEL REOPENING The decision to lift the mandates took far too long. Air Canada had to can- cel 360 fights 2 in one week alone at Pear: In early May the Great- er Toronto Airports Au- thority, which manages Pearson Airport, led on legacy public health re- quirements at Canada's airports" and “eliminate random testing upon arriv- al from Canada's airports and look to options such as communit ity wastewater testing. Providing proof of vac- cination for every depar- and arrival and ran- dom onsite testing for Ca- nadians contributed to the airport delays. Proof oi vaccination requirements have been lifted by all prov- inces, yet the Trudeau gov- ernment stalled to do the same. Keeping this policy made no sense when over 90 per cent of Canadians are fully vaccinated. Public health restric- tions were needed to com- bat COVID-19, especially when vaccines were not available. When vaccines were approved, the vast majority of Canadians fol- lowed the government's ad- vice and got vaccinated. Canadians upheld their end of the bargain. It jook too long for the Trudean government to do the same and lift the restrictions, as other coun- tries did some time ago. Michael Chong is the and other Canadian ai MP for Wellington ‘Halton ports — have cuperionced Hills, and the shad in- long lines, Tight delays, ister of foreign fairs for flight cancellatio: and the official opposition. He 8 missed cannectians due to can be reached ai ‘hael.ch varlge.ca : federal travel TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT Dave Huras photo A cardinal visits a backyard on Meadowglen Boulevard. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. THE RISE AND FALL OF TECH STOCKS Tech giants that posted phenomenal stock market gains over the last decade now suddenly come oahine back to reality. The companies often re- ferred to as "FAANG" in- clude Facebook (now called Meta), Amazon, Ap- ple, Netflix id Google (now called Alphabet). For the 10 years ending in 2021, their ann was 28 per cent. That was 12 per cent higher per year than the underlying mai Ket as measured by the Russell 3000 Int As of May a four out of the five stocks did not keep up with the value of the overall stock market. Com- bined, the underper- formed the Russell 3000 by nine per cent. There's disappointment for those who stocks, particularly thes who watched the stock soar then recently boug! them before they declined PETER WATSON Column in value. That type of underper- formance is not unusual. ually. Stock values can rise significantly; however, that strong. ‘growth tends not to continue. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is er of the Invest- ment Industry Regulatory 0 ization of Canada. Firms that stock market value appre- ciation that join the covet- ed Top 10 largest compa- nies in the United States of- ten do so because of tre- mendous growth. Forthethree years prior to joining the Top 10 largest market capitalized compa- nies, their stock values in- creased by nearly 25 per cent per year more than the general stock market. s later, those stocks isunderperforrned the market by one per cent an- The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACPI. Watson provides wealth management services through Watson Invest- ments. He can be reached at www.watsoninvestment- s.com. SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT THEIFPCA 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. 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