{"id":663661,"date":"2026-08-30T13:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/663661\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T13:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:07:38","slug":"canadian-official-answers-trumps-lake-america-with-giant-lake-ontario-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/663661\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian official answers Trump\u2019s \u2018Lake America\u2019 with giant Lake Ontario sign"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAYS AFTER US President Donald Trump signed an order renaming Lake Ontario as \u2018Lake America\u2019<\/a>, a Canadian premier has erected a huge sign on the shores of the lake to ridicule the brazen move.<\/p>\n

The sign reads \u201cLake Ontario. Now and Always\u201d and stands roughly two storeys high.\u00a0The message is repeated in French.<\/p>\n

Wearing a Team Canada football shirt, Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u00a0unveiled the sign near Grimsby, Ontario, and posed for photographs.<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s Lake Ontario, now and always. pic.twitter.com\/KNahtPAMeJ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Doug Ford (@fordnation) August 29, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump\u2019s move came amid a spiralling trade war between the neighbouring countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on about $20bn (\u20ac17.15 billion) worth of American goods after the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs over the weekend on Canadian goods following the collapse of trade negotiations.<\/p>\n

Trump intensified the confrontation at the time by saying the US was giving \u201cserious consideration\u201d to renaming Lake Ontario \u201cLake America\u201d.<\/p>\n

The lake, which is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, shares a name with the Canadian province of Ontario.<\/p>\n

The Canada\u2013US border spans the centre of the lake.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
\n US President Donald Trump signs an executive order on the renaming in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Alamy<\/p>\n

Alamy\n<\/p>\n

After months of tariffs, threats to make Canada the 51st US state and personal attacks on its leaders, the reaction in Canada has mixed defiance with mockery.<\/p>\n

Ford said Trump was trying to rename the lake because Ontario and Canada were \u201cstanding up for ourselves\u201d and argued the name would outlast the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,\u201d Ford said in a video posted on social media.<\/p>\n

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew compared Trump to an ageing rock band trying to revive an old hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know when, like, a rock band is really over the hill and you see them like in a casino playing some song from like 50 years ago, I think that\u2019s the part of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency we\u2019re at now \u2014 like he thought he had a real hit, a real golden oldie, with the Gulf of Mexico,\u201d Kinew said, referring to Trump\u2019s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he\u2019s trying to bring back that, and he\u2019s trying to play the hits for his base. But I think everybody here thinks it\u2019s a little sad and it\u2019s not his best work.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Canadian prime minister said in a post on social media: \u201d<\/p>\n

We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario \u2013 then, now and always.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari\u2019io, which, appropriately, means \u201cthe lake is beautiful, the lake is big\u201d.<\/p>\n

The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) August 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mockery was not limited to politicians. Canadian historian Robert Bothwell was even more scathing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest country on earth takes this moron seriously?\u201d Bothwell said.<\/p>\n

But Bothwell said the dispute was more serious than the jokes, arguing Trump\u2019s broader aim was \u201cto subordinate Canada and at best make it a colony, at worst absorb it into the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said Trump \u201cwould like Canada to act like a vassal state, but it refuses to do so. That irritates him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump continued promoting the new name on Saturday, reposting a meme showing Canada geese with Trump-like blond hair firing rifles as they \u201cprotected\u201d Lake America.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly used maps to make political points. A \u201cGulf of America\u201d map was displayed for a time beside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, and Trump has posted images depicting Canada as part of the United States or as the 51st state.<\/p>\n

\"a-map-featuring-the-words-gulf-of-america-is-seen-in-the-oval-office-during-an-event-with-president-donald-trump-at-the-white-house-tuesday-feb-11-2025-in-washington-photoalex-brandon\"
\n A map featuring the words Gulf of America is seen in the Oval Office during an event with President Donald Trump at the White House in February 2025. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

The name Lake Ontario comes from the Huron Indigenous people\u2019s word \u201coniatar\u00ed:io,\u201d which means \u201clake of shining waters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.<\/p>\n

With reporting by PA<\/p>\n