Ontario Premier Hits Back at Trump's 'Lake America' With Giant Sign

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has answered President Donald Trump's executive order renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' with a billboard-sized rebuttal on the Canadian shoreline. The sign, unveiled near Grimsby, Ontario, reads "Lake Ontario. Now and Always" in English and French. Ford, wearing a Team Canada soccer jersey, posed for photographs beside the 24-by-12-foot structure, which stands on six-foot legs, raising its top about 18 feet off the ground.

Ford said the renaming attempt was a reaction to Ontario and Canada "standing up for ourselves," and predicted the original name would endure. "Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario," he said in a social media video.

The mockery extended beyond provincial leaders. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew compared Trump to an aging rock band playing old hits, referencing the Gulf of Mexico renaming. Historian Robert Bothwell called the move absurd but warned of a deeper aim to subordinate Canada. Nelson Wiseman, a University of Toronto professor emeritus, said Trump wants Canada to act like a vassal state, but it refuses.

The dispute comes amid deteriorating trade relations, with negotiations collapsing last week and Canada announcing retaliatory tariffs. Trump has also escalated personal attacks on Ford, calling him a "flunky" and mocking him as the less impressive brother of the late Toronto mayor.

Indigenous leaders also condemned the renaming. Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard said it erases Indigenous history, noting the lake's name comes from the Huron word "oniatarí:io," meaning "lake of shining waters." Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, emphasizing the name predates both Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.