·
·
Thursday, 22 October 2026dailybeirut.com
World
Ontario Premier Doug Ford erected a large sign on the Lake Ontario shoreline declaring it “Lake Ontario… Now and Forever,” rejecting Donald Trump’s executive order to rename it “Lake America” within U.S. official databases.
Canada has escalated its dispute with former U.S. President Donald Trump over the naming of Lake Ontario, reaffirming the water body’s longstanding designation as Canadian and insisting it will retain the name “Lake Ontario” indefinitely.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford installed a prominent sign along the lake’s shoreline—the boundary between Canada’s Ontario province and New York State—bearing the phrase: “Lake Ontario… Now and Forever.” The move directly counters Trump’s effort to rebrand the lake as “Lake America.”
Speaking at the sign’s unveiling ceremony, Ford stated that the lake “was called Lake Ontario long before President Trump arrived” and “will remain Lake Ontario long after he leaves office.”
The sign followed Trump’s signing of an executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to formally change the lake’s name within the U.S. Board on Geographic Names database. The order grants the department 30 days to implement the update across official U.S. geographic records.
Trump also released AI-generated video clips depicting himself removing a “Lake Ontario” sign and replacing it with one reading “Lake America.”
Ford characterized Trump’s action as a reaction to Canada and Ontario “standing up for themselves,” adding: “In case President Trump—or anyone else—forgot, we put up this sign to remind them it is Lake Ontario, now and forever.”
The naming dispute unfolds amid intensifying trade friction between the United States and Canada. Negotiations have stalled, and Washington has imposed additional tariffs on Canadian imports; Ottawa is preparing retaliatory measures.
Lake Ontario straddles the international border between Ontario province and New York State and forms part of the five Great Lakes of North America.
In 2025, the Trump administration officially changed the U.S.-designated name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” within American geographic databases—a move rejected by Mexico.
