The Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, inaugurated this Saturday a large sign installed in a park on the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario, two days after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order to rename it Lake America.
Dressed in a red Canada soccer team shirt, Ford removed the tarp covering the fence with a huge blue sign, revealing the words “Lake Ontario. Now and forever” in English and French.
“Long before Trump’s presidency, this lake was called Lake Ontario. Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario”, said the premier unveiling the sign at the Fifty Point Conservation Area in Hamilton.
He then added that with this he wanted to send a message to the U.S. leader that Canadians are resilient and strong and that “we will never, ever be cowed by a bully”.
On Thursday, the Republican leader signed an order instructing the U.S. Department of the Interior to adopt “Lake America” in the U.S. federal geographic records and reaffirmed that the change takes immediate effect.
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Since then, Trump has also shared a series of AI-generated videos about the lake that stretches between both countries.
The war of statements, as BBC recalled, was triggered after the failure of trade negotiations, when the U.S. imposed new 50% tariffs on Canadian products worth US$20 billion.
In response, Canada announced it would implement equivalent counter-tariffs starting next September.
