News
Town of Blackfalds Council Highlights

COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS
February 13, 2018
DELEGATION
? Ken Morrison was introduced as the new Emergency Management and Protective Services Manager.
BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
• Council moved to approve and direct Administration to proceed with Canada 150 Mosaic project including the construction of a 12 ft x 8 ft mosaic mural with 600 4” x 4” panels painted for a cost of $15,000 with funding to come out of the Operation Reserves.
• Council suggested Administration decide what school and which 300 students will be participating in the painting of tiles. 100 tiles will be painted by the general public and 200 tiles will be painted by the artists. 600 tiles will be painted in total to complete the Canada 150 Mosaic Mural
• Council suggested Administration work with the public to decide an agreed upon location for the mural along with the design of the mural.
BUSINESS
Animal Control Services – Proposed Contract Extension
? Council moved to authorize and direct Administration to undertake a one-year contract extension, from April 1 2018 to March 31 2019 with 327241 Alberta Ltd. – Klassic Kennels to provide animal control services for the Town of Blackfalds.
? Council approved of this decision as Klassic Kennels has provided excellent animal control services for the growing community and the growing amount of pet owners.
Director of Emergency Management Appointment
? Council moved to appoint Emergency Management and Protective Services Manager Ken Morrison as Director of Emergency Management for the Town of Blackfalds, effective immediately.
Council Community Engagement Opportunities – 2018
? Council was provided with a listing which was created to provide information on a number of upcoming events and initiatives where Council will have the opportunity to attend and network with the public.
? Upcoming events can be found online at https://www.blackfalds.com/living-here/events-calendar. This include Winterfest, Chamber Meet & Greet, Home Show, Family Easter Event, Volunteer Recognition, Volunteer Firefighter Awareness Week and Community Cleanup.
ACTION CORRESPONDENCE
? The Town is encouraged to fill out a submission form for the 17th annual Minister’s Awards for Municipal Excellence which, according to the letter provided to Council, recognizes excellence in local government practices.
? AUMA provided a templated letter with the request that Council fill it out and send to the local MLA regarding police funding. It is hoped that the letters from municipalities will move forward a fair approach to police funding provided by Municipalities.
? Council requested Administration to provide more information, including a proposed plan of action regarding cannabis legalization after receiving a request from Too Far, Too Fast initiative which hopes to deter or postpone the legalization of marijuana across the country. Due to the lack of information, Council was unable to make a decision on whether or not to support this initiative at this time.
? Council was informed that a meeting with Wolf Creek Public Schools was postponed due to a pre-existing Council meeting on March 13, 2018. Administration will work with Wolf Creek Public School to re-schedule the meeting as the partnership with them is important to the Town.
OTHER BUSINESS
? The Town is ready to host Winterfest 2018 which takes place on February 19, 2018. Community Services Department Director Sean Barnes informed council that 18 Penguin Dippers have signed up, a new record.
? Blackfalds Senior Housing is in the works and Mike Leathwood, Chief Executive Officer for the Bethany Group and Melodie Stol, Stakeholder Relations Advisor met to discuss needs and possibilities. The next step in the process is to take Administration on a schedule tour of Bashaw and Camrose’s senior facilities on February 21, 2018.
International
Bongino announces FBI will release files on COVID cover up, Mar-a-Lago Raid and more

MxM News
Quick Hit:
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that the bureau will begin releasing information on a number of controversial investigations long shielded from public view.
Key Details:
- Bongino said the FBI is clearing information on high-profile cases, including COVID, Crossfire Hurricane, and the Trump Mar-a-Lago raid.
- The bureau is actively working with the DOJ on releasing Epstein case details and cracking down on child sexual abuse content.
- Bongino dismissed media attacks on FBI Director Kash Patel as “verifiable lies” and accused the press of fabricating stories.
Diving Deeper:
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino disclosed on Saturday that the bureau will begin releasing information previously kept under tight wraps, including cases that many Americans believe were swept under the rug for political or institutional protection.
Bongino, a former NYPD officer, Secret Service agent, and outspoken conservative commentator, took to X to announce that his office has already started cooperating with Congress and the public by providing long-requested information. Among the cases he cited: the attempted assassination of Rep. Steve Scalise, the Nashville Christian school shooting, the Crossfire Hurricane probe, and the COVID-19 origins and cover-up.
“This isn’t business as usual anymore,” Bongino wrote. “We’re clearing information to Congress, and the public, as quickly as possible.”
One of the most politically explosive revelations relates to the FBI’s handling of the Mar-a-Lago raid, an unprecedented move to search the home of the sitting president’s top political opponent, President Donald Trump. Bongino’s announcement signals that internal communications and case files may soon be scrutinized by congressional investigators and the public alike.
Bongino also confirmed that the agency is working closely with the DOJ on the Epstein case, noting the overwhelming volume of child sexual abuse material that must be reviewed. He emphasized that protecting children remains a core mission of the FBI under his and Director Kash Patel’s leadership.
“Operation ‘Restoring Justice,’ where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning,” he wrote. “Think twice if you’ve targeted children, because you’re next.”
The deputy director didn’t hold back in pushing back against media reports that characterized Patel’s leadership as unserious or performative. “The media continue to entirely fabricate stories,” Bongino wrote, describing reports about Patel skipping briefings and attending sports events as “a verifiable lie.”
He defended Patel’s work ethic, noting that the FBI director routinely works 10–12 hour days and meets with top counter-terror officials and global law enforcement partners.
International
UK Supreme Court rules ‘woman’ means biological female

Susan Smith (L) and Marion Calder, directors of ‘For Women Scotland’ cheer as they leave the Supreme Court on April 16, 2025, in London, England after winning their appeal in defense of biological reality
From LifeSiteNews
By Michael Haynes, Snr. Vatican Correspondent
The ruling, in which the court rejected transgender legal status, comes as a victory for campaigners who have urged the recognition of biological reality and common sense in the law.
The U.K. Supreme Court has issued a ruling stating that “woman” in law refers to a biological female, and that transgender “women” are not female in the eyes of the law.
In a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled today that legally transgender “women” are not women, since a woman is legally defined by “biological sex.”
Published April 16, the Supreme Court’s 88-page verdict was handed down on the case of Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v. The Scottish Ministers (Respondent). The ruling marks the end of a battle of many years between the Scottish government and women’s right campaigners who sought to oppose the government’s promotion of transgender ideology.
In 2018, the Scottish government issued a decision to allow the definition of “woman” to include men who assume their gender to be female, opening the door to allowing so-called “transgender” individuals to identify as women.
This guidance was challenged by women’s rights campaigners, arguing that a woman should be defined in line with biological sex, and in 2022 the Scottish government was forced to change its definition after the court found that such a move was outside the government’s “legislative competence.”
Given this, the government issued new guidance which sought to cover both aspects: saying that biological women are women, but also that men with a “gender recognition certificate” (GRC) are also considered women. A GRC is given to people who identify as the opposite sex and who have had medical or surgical interventions in an attempt to “reassign” their gender.
Women Scotland Ltd appealed this new guidance. At first it was rejected by inner courts, but upon their taking the matter to the Supreme Court in March last year, the nation’s highest judicial body took up the case.
Today, with the ruling issued against transgender ideology, women’s campaigners are welcoming the news as a win for women’s safety.
“A thing of beauty,” praised Lois McLatchie Miller from the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group.
“They looked at the whole argument, not just who goes in what bathroom and trans women. This is going to change organizations, employers, service providers,” Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, told the Telegraph. “Everyone is going to have to pay attention to this, this is from the highest court in the land. It’s saying sex in the Equality Act is biological sex. Self ID is dead.”
“Victory,” commented Charlie Bently-Astor, a prominent campaigner for biological reality against the transgender movement, after she nearly underwent surgical transition herself at a younger age.
“After 15 years of insanity, the U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that men who say they are ‘trans women’ are not women,” wrote leader of the Christian political movement David Kurten.
Leader of the Conservative Party – the opposition to the current Labour government – Kemi Badenoch welcomed the court’s ruling, writing that “saying ‘trans women are women’ was never true in fact and now isn’t true in law, either.”
Others lamented the fact that the debate even was taking place, let alone having gone to the Supreme Court.
“What a parody we live in,” commented Reform Party candidate Joseph Robertson.
Rupert Lowe MP – who has risen to new prominence in recent weeks for his outspoken condemnation of the immigration and rape gang crisis – wrote, “Absolute madness that we’re even debating what a woman is – it’s a biological fact. No amount of woke howling will ever change that.”
However, the Supreme Court did not wish to get pulled into siding with certain arguments, with Lord Hodge of the tribunal stating that “we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.”
The debate has taken center stage in the U.K. in recent years, not least for the role played by the current Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer himself has become notorious throughout the nation for his contradictions and inability to answer the question of what a woman is, having flip-flopped on saying that a woman can have a penis, due to his support for the transgender movement.
At the time of going to press, neither Starmer nor his deputy Angela Rayner issued a statement about the Supreme Court ruling. There has been no statement issued from the Scottish government either, nor from the office of the first minister.
Transgender activists have expectedly condemned the ruling as “a disgusting attack on trans rights.” One leading transgender campaigner individual told Sky News, “I am gutted to see the judgement from the Supreme Court which ends 20 years of understanding that transgender people with a GRC are able to be, for all intents and purposes, legally recognized as our true genders.”
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