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Interesting Facts About Central Alberta Communities From The 2016 Federal Census – How Does Your Community Compare?

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By now you know Red Deer has once again surpassed 100,000 residents and that Blackfalds is growing at an incredible pace. But just how do our Central Alberta communities stack up against each other? Check to see how your community faired and see Alberta’s largest communities, as well as the fastest growing communities in Canada!

First… Here’s how Canada faired.

Canada      2016 Pop       2011 Pop      Growth Rate %
Canada    35,151,728     33,476,688           5.0

And closer to home:

Central Alberta Communities (Over 5,000 People) Ranked by Growth Rate

Community                          2016 Pop        2011 Pop     Rank in Size Canada     Rank in Alberta     Growth Rate %

Blackfalds                                 9,328              6,300                    437                               49                            48.1
Sylvan Lake                            14,816             12,362                    280                              28                            19.9
Lacombe                                13,057             11,707                     319                              36                            11.5
Olds                                           9,184              8,235                     442                              50                             11.5
Red Deer                              100,418            90,564                       54                                3                             10.9
Ponoka County                         9,806             8,856                     422                              48                            10.7
Camrose                                 18,742             17,286                     233                              24                              8.4
Ponoka                                      7,229              6,778                      541                              66                              6.7
Red Deer County                  19,541             18,316                     223                              23                               6.7
Didsbury                                    5,268             4,957                      689                              86                              6.3
Mountain View County       13,074           12,359                       318                              35                               5.8
Wainwright                              6,270            5,925                        610                              74                               5.8
Camrose County                     8,458            8,004                       466                              52                               5.7
Wetaskiwin County               11,181           10,866                       368                             39                               2.9
Drayton Valley                        7,235             7,118                        540                             65                                1.6
Kneehill County                      5,001             4,921                        713                             89                               1.6
Wetaskiwin                            12,655           12,525                        332                             37                               1
Lacombe County                   10,343          10,307                        397                             44                                .3
Innisfail                                     7,847             7,876                        501                             61                               -.4
Drumheller                                7,982            8,029                        491                             58                              -.6
Clearwater County                11,947           12,278                        344                             38                            -2.7

10 Largest Communities in Alberta

Community                           2016 Pop        2011 Pop        Rank in Canada             Rank in Alberta

Calgary                                  1,239,220       1,096,833                   3                                      1
Edmonton                               932,546          812,201                    5                                      2
Red Deer                                 100,418            90,564                   54                                      3
Strathcona County                  98,044            92,490                   55                                      4
Lethbridge                                92,729            83,517                    59                                      5
Wood Buffalo                           71,589             65,565                   80                                      6
St. Albert                                   65,589             61,466                   85                                      7
Medicine Hat                            63,260             60,005                  87                                      8
Grande Prairie                         63,166             55,655                   88                                     9
Airdrie                                        61,581             43,271                   89                                   10

10 Fastest Growing Communities in Canada

Community        Province              2016 Pop          2011 Pop        Growth Rate

Warman,                 Sask.                   11,020             7,104                    55.1%
Blackfalds               Alta.                      9,328              6,300                   48.1%
Cochrane                Alta.                    25,853            17,580                    47.1%
Airdrie                     Alta.                    61,581             43,271                   42.3%
Shelburn                  Ont.                     8,126              5,846                    39.0%
Chestermere          Alta.                    19,887            14,824                   34.2%
Beaumont               Alta.                    17,396            13,284                    31.0%
Milton                      Ont.                   110,128           84,362                   30.5%
Spruce Grove         Alta.                     34,066          26,171                     30.2%
Tsinstikeptum         B.C.                       7,612             5,872                    29.6%

And finally:

Worst Growth in Alberta

Bonnyville                                              5,417              6,216                   -12.9%

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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International

UK Supreme Court rules ‘woman’ means biological female

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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 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.

“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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International

Tulsi Gabbard tells Trump she has ‘evidence’ voting machines are ‘vulnerable to hackers’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Stephen Kokx

Last month, Trump signed an executive order directing federal election-related funds to be conditioned on states “complying with the integrity measures set forth by Federal law, including the requirement that states use the national mail voter registration form that will now require proof of citizenship.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced during a Cabinet meeting last week at the White House that voting machines across the U.S. are not secure.

“We have evidence of how these electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time, and vulnerable to exploitation to manipulate the results of the votes being cast,” she said about a half hour into the meeting.

 

Gabbard’s remarks confirm what millions of Americans have long suspected about elections across the U.S.

President Donald Trump himself has maintained skepticism of current voting methods and has called for paper ballots to prevent cheating.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was one of only a few voices to publicly argue that voting machines, like those run by Dominion and Smartmatic which were used during the 2020 presidential election, were compromised. GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene took to X to praise the businessman after Gabbard made her remarks.

“Mike Lindell along with MANY others vindicated!!” she exclaimed on X. “Another conspiracy theory being proven right! Guess what Democrats already knew this and publicly talked about it in 2019! And then lied and lied and lied!!!”

 

Last month, Trump signed an executive order directing federal election-related funds to be conditioned on states “complying with the integrity measures set forth by Federal law, including the requirement that states use the national mail voter registration form that will now require proof of citizenship.”

Congress has also taken steps to ensure election integrity by voting on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (also known as the SAVE Act) last week. Dubbed “controversial” by the media and left-wing groups, the common sense bill would require persons to show proof of citizenship before voting. The House approved the measure 220-208 with four Democrats in support. The bill now heads to the Senate where it will face an uphill battle for the required 60 votes. Republicans currently have a 53 seat majority.

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