A two-story billboard now stands on the Canadian shoreline of Lake Ontario, built for the sole purpose of outlasting a presidential order.
Premier Doug Ford, dressed in a Team Canada soccer jersey, stood at Fifty Point Conservation Area near Grimsby on Saturday and unveiled a billboard measuring 24 by 12 feet, reading “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.” Mounted on 6-foot legs, the top of the sign sits roughly 18 feet up, with the same message repeated underneath in French. “Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,”
Ford said in a video he posted afterward, adding separately: “President Trump can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario.”
It’s Lake Ontario, now and always. pic.twitter.com/KNahtPAMeJ
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) August 29, 2026
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The sign answered Trump’s executive order from Thursday, which directed U.S. federal agencies to start calling the lake “Lake America.”
But this wasn’t just about a name. The billboard landed in the middle of a much bigger fight between Washington and Ottawa, one that has already included months of tariffs, repeated suggestions that Canada become the 51st state, and personal attacks on Canadian officials.
Trump laid out his reasoning to reporters in the Oval Office, tying the name change straight to his frustration with Canada over trade.
“People, oftentimes they’ll ask me, who’s the worst to deal with on trade? And I said, that’s easy. Canada. They are the worst at trade. And they feel entitled, and just, we can’t have that,” he said.
He then described what he sees as a broader pattern already in motion. “As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico, we changed it, and now it’s very routinely called the Gulf of America. So, if you think about it, we have a Gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we will change them both.”
He marked the signing with an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing himself kicking down a “Lake Ontario” sign, planting a replacement labeled “Lake of America” with an American flag attached, then dancing to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”
Trump just posted this AI video of himself replacing the Lake Ontario sign with a “Lake America” sign.
I’ll never understand how 77 million people voted for this buffoon.. pic.twitter.com/791LrwOfbk
— IRA 12 🇮🇷 (@CP_Pres) August 30, 2026
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew found the comparison that stuck.
“You know when 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’s the part of Donald Trump’s presidency we’re at now, like he thought he had a real hit, a real golden oldie, with the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “And he’s trying to bring back that, and he’s trying to play the hits for his base. But I think everybody here thinks it’s a little sad and it’s not his best work.”
The order itself only controls how U.S. federal agencies refer to the lake, with no authority over what Canada, international mapmakers, or anyone else decides to call it.
Featured image via X screengrab
