8 uw ° =z = Ss = | Thursday, June 24, 2021 | OUR OBLIGATION IS 2 TO RAISE UP THOSE = WHO LACK A = PLATFORM FOR 2 THEIR VOICES TO BE FARD, WRITES JOANNE BURGHARDT JOANNE BURGHARDT ‘olumn It'sabout trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on hon- WE COMMITTED TO DO BETTER: HOW ARE WE DOING? sciously listening to, and giving voice to, a broader audience. Our parent company, Torstar, has completed its first internal, voumrary demographics surve’ Those results will be used asa baseline against which we will monitor our prog- ress in building a more di- verse workforce. We are redrawing re- cruitment, hiring and de- velopment practices that have historically limited diversity at all levels. Year to date, 62 per cent of all newly-hired journalists in Metroland have furthered our goal for a more diverse workfore are establishing leadership training and mentorship programs oe esty and integrity. As such, ve launched a trust initiative to tell you who we areand how why we do what we do. This article is part of that project. year bookended by thee murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by ice in the United States, and the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children on the site of the former Kamloops residen- tial school, may we never again deny the existence of systemic r racism. One year ago, I joined editorial readers inendors- ven calls to action from the Canadian Jour- nalists of Colour (CJOC) and Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ), found here: www.cjoc.net/white-paper. We invited Metroland's journalists, including those at this newspaper, to our path forwal months since, our journal- ists have participated in workshops, planning and § discussions around our 2 own biases, and about con- portunity for development and advancement. have established a province-wide community council to advise us on im- proving diversity and in- clusion in our content. To assist students from diverse and presented Dechgvound 1 in newsrooms as part scholastic requirements, we have reshaped our aca- demic placement process. Each newsroom will host at east one student each gram for BIPOC journal- ists who are new to the in- dustry. We have an obligation to educate ourselves, to fight racism, to raise up those who do not have ready ac- cess to a platform through which their voice can be heard. fe are committed to making a difference. Joanne Burghardt is the director of community engagement for Metroland. We welcome your questions and value your comments. Email our trust committee at trust@metroland.com. TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT Tony Fortunato phato A blue jay visits a backyard in rural Georgetown. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM INVESTMENTS STOCKS AND BONDS HAVE A DIFFERENT EXPECTED VOLATILITY AND RETURN, WRITES PETER WATSON Many investors dislike volatili Most would prefer a $10- a-share price to increase gradually to $11. Perfect. A 10-per-cent return with no drama. Volatility is a normal part of investing. As inves- tors, we have to accept that if we own shares. As it turns out, volatility is our friend. Potential strong returns from own- ing shares are predicated on on those shares having the risk of volatility. You do have the option to eliminate stock volatili- ty in your portfolio. Sell PETER WATSON Column your shares and buy b bonds and the level of volatility that you are likely mn expe rience will be significant less than if you had pea! those shares. But there is a problem. The expected return on a bond is significantly less than that of stocks. That is logical because a bond owner that has significant- ly less risk of volatility will accept a lower return as a trade-off. As investors, we accept the risk of volatility with the cxpectation that we a higher return. This | leads us to the im- portant task of designing an investment portfolio that meets our needs. This is referred to as as- set allocation. In my opinion, asset al- location is the most signif- icant decision investors make. It will te the most significant factor of nppectedl volatility and expected returns. 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 Invest- 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 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 nnc hocna newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE Publisher Kelly Montague Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Distribution Representative Real Estate Kristie Pells Regional Production Manager Manuel Gar Halton Moka General Manager Jason Pehora CONTACT US The Independent & Free Press 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8- 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 ment Industry Regulatory Delivery 01 ization of Canada. II delivery inquiries, please e-mail dare | cal 905-234-1019, those of the author and not i necessarily those of ACPI. He provides wealth man- agement services through Watson Investments. Wat- son can be reached at www.peterwatsoninvest- ments.com. EO}