Stock price when the opinion was issued
NASDAQ is primarily tech companies, and you pay up for that. Growth rate for a lot of those companies is strong. But he sees the market broadening out to other sectors. As the economy and the monetary environment improve, we'll see industrials and financials improve. We might even see some rotation.
The US version of a US-stock ETF will always be cheaper. For QQQ, you're paying 20 bps; XQQ is 39 bps, almost double. XQQ is hedged, which hasn't helped you, might help you going forward but doesn't see CAD having a big push against the USD. He'd prefer QQQ, but be cautious on tech at this point.
He's a stock-picker, so he wouldn't buy an ETF. However, companies in either of these are the place to be for the next 10 years.