Opinion
Red Deer’s 2% house depreciation hurts the most, the ones we need the most.

We welcome your opinions.. Here’s one from Red Deer resident Garfield Marks.
Red Deer has a severe supply management issue when it comes to housing. In 4 years our population grew by 195 residents while we added 1299 new homes. House values decreased last year by 2%. Making it undesirable to young families to put down permanent roots in Red Deer.
Why it may be better to just rent in the short term.
The prices of real estate has declined in the last year by 2 %.
So what, you may ask.
Let us look at last yearās first home buyer.
Buys a $300,000 house. Puts 5% down ($15,000) and takes out a mortgage. Pays legal and moving fees for about $1,000 which would be a bargain. $16,000 out of pocket to start.
5% down means a $285,000 mortgage which means mortgage insurance which if added to the principal means a real mortgage of $296,400 to start.
Taxes for the year on property will be about $2,600.
If the mortgage was at 2.94% that would mean a monthly payment of about $1,394 or $16,728 for the year.
Let us say the needs no maintenance but one could expect maintenance of at least $1,000 but in this example we will negate maintenance.
House insurance would be about a $1,000.
During the year the home buyer spent $16,000 buying the house, $16,728 on mortgage payments and $2,600 on property taxes, $1,000 on insurance for a total of $36,328.
Today the house sells for 2% less or $294,000, then minus $12,411 real estate fees and GST, down to $281,589, then minus $1,000 legal fees to $280,589, then minus mortgage payout of about$290,000 to a net loss of about $10,000 in proceeds to the owner.
So that $300,000 home cost the owner $46,000 to live in the home for 1 year. He could have rented it for $20,000 so in this case it would make more sense to rent.
So to many people losing 2% value in their home is a big deal.
Perhaps we could slow down the building of new homes to let the market catch up, because now it leaves the most vulnerable home buyer at risk, and those are the first time buyers, the young families and the residents most needed to create a growing community.
So far from encouraging the young upwardly mobile to move to Red Deer, we are scaring them away.
Perhaps our supply and demand equation is heavily weighted to the supply side, yet we keep investing in new subdivisions while devaluing our own homes.
Who wins? Developers, city hall tax collectors, builders but not the tax payers. The city definitely makes the case for big property managers and renting. Too bad.
Business
Trump says tariffs on China will remain until trade imbalance is corrected

Ā MxM News
Quick Hit:
President Trump said Sunday he wonāt make a tariff deal with China unless its $1 trillion trade surplus with the U.S. is balanced. Speaking aboard Air Force One, he called the deficit ānot sustainableā and said tariffs are already driving a wave of investment back to America.
Key Details:
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Trump told reporters the U.S. has āa $1 trillion trade deficit with China,ā adding, āhundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose to China, and unless we solve that problem, Iām not going to make a deal.ā He insisted any agreement must begin with fixing that imbalance.
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The president said tariffs are generating ālevels that weāve never seen beforeā of private investment, claiming $7 trillion has already been committed in areas like auto manufacturing and chip production, with companies returning to places like North Carolina, Detroit, and Illinois.
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On Truth Social Sunday night, Trump wrote: āThe only way this problem can be cured is with TARIFFSā¦ a beautiful thing to behold.ā He accused President Biden of allowing trade surpluses to grow and pledged, āWe are going to reverse it, and reverse it QUICKLY.ā
Diving Deeper:
President Donald Trump reaffirmed his tough trade stance on Sunday,Ā tellingĀ reporters that he wonāt negotiate any new deal with China unless the massive trade deficit is addressed. āWe have a $1 trillion trade deficit with China. Hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose to China, and unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal,ā Trump said while aboard Air Force One.
He emphasized that while some countries have deficits in the billions, Chinaās trade advantage over the U.S. exceeds a trillion dollars and remains the most severe. āWe have a tremendous deficit problem with Chinaā¦ I want that solved,ā he said. āA deficit is a loss. We’re going to have surpluses, or we’re, at worst, going to be breaking even.ā
Trump touted the impact of tariffs already in place, pointing to an estimated $7 trillion in committed investments flowing into the U.S. economy. He highlighted growth in the automotive and semiconductor sectors in particular, and said companies are now bringing operations back to American soilāciting North Carolina, Detroit, and Illinois as examples.
He also claimed world leaders in Europe and Asia are eager to strike deals with the U.S., but heās holding firm. āTheyāre dying to make a deal,ā he said, ābut as long as there are deficits, Iām not going to do that.ā
Trump projected that tariffs would add another $1 trillion to federal revenues by next year and help re-establish the U.S. as the worldās top economic power. āOur country has gotten a lot stronger,ā Trump said. āEventually it’ll be a country like no other… the most dominant country, economically, in the world, which is what it should be.ā
Later Sunday night, Trump doubled down in a Truth SocialĀ post, writing, āWe have massive Financial Deficits with China, the European Union, and many others. The only way this problem can be cured is with TARIFFS, which are now bringing Tens of Billions of Dollars into the U.S.A.ā He added that trade surpluses have grown under Joe Biden and vowed to reverse them āQUICKLY.ā
Courageous Discourse
Europe Had 127,350 Cases of Measles in 2024

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
US Mainstream Media Maintains Myopic Focus on Less than 1000 Cases
As the measles story in the US continues to unfold with reporting of a few cases here and there come in through mainstream media, I wondered about measles in Europe.
TheĀ WHO casually reportedĀ that the Europe Region had 127,350 cases in 2024.
According to an analysis by WHO and the United Nations Childrenās Fund (UNICEF), 127 350 measles cases were reported in the European Region for 2024, double the number of cases reported for 2023 and the highest number since 1997.
Children under 5 accounted for more than 40% of reported cases in the Region ā comprising 53 countries in Europe and central Asia. More than half of the reported cases required hospitalization. A total of 38 deaths have been reported, based on preliminary data received as of 6 March 2025.
Measles cases in the Region have generally been declining since 1997, when some 216 000 were reported, reaching a low of 4440 cases in 2016. However, a resurgence was seen in 2018 and 2019 ā with 89 000 and 106 000 cases reported for the 2 years respectively. Following a backsliding in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, cases rose significantly again in 2023 and 2024. Vaccination rates in many countries are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing the risk of outbreaks.
Many regions in Europe have lower rates of measles vaccination than the goal of 95%.
Less than 80% of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania were vaccinated with MCV1 in 2023 ā far below the 95% coverage rate required to retain herd immunity. In both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro the coverage rate for MCV1 has remained below 70% and 50% respectively for the past 5 or more years. Romania reported the highest number of cases in the Region for 2024, with 30 692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28 147 cases.
TheĀ WHO ReportĀ does not mention adjudication of hospitalizations or deaths. Presumably hospitalization of healthy kids is routine for contagion control. So if measles is so common and presumably well-handled by Europe, why is it such a big deal in the United States? Donāt look for Sanjay Gupta or Anderson Cooper to tell you that a similar size region and population handles >100K cases per year without much fanfare.
Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
President, McCullough Foundation
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