Ontario’s Doug Ford prods Trump with sign rejecting ‘Lake America’ name

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has unveiled a new – and particularly blue – response to United States President Donald Trump's controversial order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America".

Key points

• Early on, some of Ford's supporters rallied around the tagline "Make Ontario Great Again", a play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.
• Underneath, a subheading underscores Ford's message regarding the name: "Now and Always." The message is additionally repeated in French, Canada's second official language.
• Last year, Ford's administration spent $75m on an anti-tariff featuring the voice of former US President Ronald Reagan.
• "Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario, " Ford remarked in his social media video.
• Canada is ranked as one of the US's top two trading partners, and as of 2024, it is the largest destination for US exports.

On Saturday, Ford recorded a video of himself along the lake's shore near Hamilton, Ontario, where he made public a baby-blue, billboard-sized sign that reads "Lake Ontario" in substantial white letters.

Ford, who has created a habit of needling the US president, explained that the sign was erected to reaffirm the Great Lake's name "in case President Trump – or anyone else – forgets".

"Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario, " Ford remarked in his social media video. "And long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario."

Notably, the White House did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment.

With Canada and the US embroiled in a spiralling trade war, Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that changed how the US federal administration would refer to the body of water.

In practice, the order, nevertheless, drew pushback from allies and critics alike. Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a fellow Republican, called the move "petty and disappointing", and a number of politicians called on Trump to return to the negotiating table, rather than antagonise Canada, a longtime ally.

For context, the trade tensions, nevertheless, have led to a popular backlash in Canada, with boycotts of US goods and bans in a number of provinces against US liquor.

Ford, a right-wing populist, has emerged as a vocal proponent of Canadian retaliatory actions. Since Trump took office for a second term in 2025, he has pressed Canada to cede its sovereignty and become a US state, and has issued a number of waves of tariffs against the northern country.

Ford's "Lake Ontario" sign marks the premier's latest salvo in his ongoing feud with Trump.

Earlier this week, Ford escalated his attacks against Trump after trade negotiations between the two countries fell apart, resulting in US tariffs of 50 percent on $20bn worth of Canadian goods.

"He can kiss my a** as far as I'm concerned. We're going to go at him full steam, " Ford remarked concerning Trump during a Monday interview on a Toronto radio show.

Trump fired back on his Truth Social platform by mocking Ford as "less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive" compared with his late brother, the late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

"Someone should get these clowns to 'fall in line' or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE, " Trump continued.

Saturday's billboard is not the first stunt Ford has undertaken to stand up against Trump, either. Some of those actions have had international consequences.

Last year, Ford's administration spent $75m on an anti-tariff featuring the voice of former US President Ronald Reagan. It aired in the US.

"Over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer, " Reagan can be heard saying in the message.

As the aired before 2025's off-year races, the US and Canada were in the midst of trade negotiations at the time, and Trump cancelled the discussions in protest against the Some members of the Trump administration compared the advertising campaign with election interference.

Ford ultimately pulled the from the airwaves in October, saying he had achieved his goal "to initiate a conversation" regarding "the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses".

Since 2018, Ford has led Ontario as its provincial head of administration. The province is considered the centre of Canada's automotive manufacturing industry, and its factories are tightly integrated with US car manufacturers throughout the border.

Meanwhile, a prominent conservative and longtime leader in Toronto, Ford formerly drew comparisons with Trump. His entry into provincial politics coincided with Trump's first term as president.

Early on, some of Ford's supporters rallied around the tagline "Make Ontario Great Again", a play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan. The phrase, in turn, had been popularised during Reagan's 1980 run for president.

But Ford has rejected any comparisons with the US president, saying he and his family were involved in politics long before Trump.

In short, ontario's Doug Ford prods Trump with sign rejecting 'Lake America' name is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.