HAMILTON – Premier Doug Ford unveiled a Lake Ontario sign at a park on the shores of the Great Lake on Saturday, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to change its name to Lake America.
Clad in a red Canada Soccer jersey, Ford pulled a tarp off the large blue sign, revealing the words “Now and Always” below the lake’s name.
Standing in front of the sign at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Hamilton, Ont., Ford said he wanted to send a message to Trump that Canadians are resilient and strong and “we will never, ever back down from a bully.”
The lake will always be known as Lake Ontario in Canada and the rest of the world, no matter what Trump calls it, he added.
Trump first threatened to rename the body of water during an escalating war of words with Ford earlier this week sparked by the breakdown of Canada-U.S. trade talks.
The two exchanged insults, with Ford saying the president could “kiss my ass,” among other things, and Trump saying the premier was a “less charismatic, intelligent” version of his late brother, Rob.
Ford’s latest move failed to impress some who witnessed the sign’s unveiling.
Ankur Patel, who was at the lakefront during the event, said Ford and Trump’s shots at each other and the controversy around the lake’s name change are little more than political theatre.
“It’s just unnecessary, it’s getting more attention than it needs to. I think the focus should be trade negotiation,” he said.
“It doesn’t help or do anything, it just distracts,” Patel said of the sign.
Canada, being the smaller economy, has more to lose in a trade war with the U.S., Patel said, and he would like to see politicians’ energies going toward hashing out a deal.
Trump’s executive order renaming the lake only holds water in the U.S. and Prime Minister Mark Carney has shrugged off the change.
“The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America,” Carney wrote on social media Thursday, affirming the Lake Ontario name persists “then, now and always.”
The Lake Ontario sign is just the latest development in the Canada-U.S. trade war, which has seen the U.S. impose 50 per cent tariffs on about $28 billion of Canadian goods.
The federal government has responded with 15 to 50 per cent tariffs on hundreds of U.S. products to take effect on Sept. 8.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2026.
