Canadian PM Mark Carney Demolishes Trump's Bid To Change Name Of Lake Ontario

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Donald Trump and Doug Burgum, US secretary of the interior, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office, changing Lake Ontario to Lake America.https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/6a911c241700000d7fd43d69.jpg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" />Donald Trump and Doug Burgum, US secretary of the interior, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office, changing Lake Ontario to Lake America.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/mark-carney/">Mark Carney has demolished https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump/">Donald Trump’s attempt to change the name of Lake Ontario as part of his ongoing feud with Canada.

The US president signed an executive order on Thursday re-naming the vast expanse of water “Lake America”.

It came after trade talks between America and Canada collapsed last week, with Trump imposing 50% tariffs on imports from its neighbour. 

Canada has said it will retaliate with “dollar for dollar” tariffs of its own on American goods.

Lake Ontario is one of the five “Great Lakes” which straddle America and Canada.

Trump said the name change was “official, effective immediately”.

Donald Trump and Mark Carney at the G7 summit in June.https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/6a91182f190000aabe6bb887.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" />Donald Trump and Mark Carney at the G7 summit in June.

But responding on X, Canadian PM Carney blew Trump’s claims out of the water by pointing out it has been known as Lake Ontario for centuries and will remain so “now and always”.

He said: “The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’.

“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.

“We know that America is changing.

Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.

“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”

Other politicians, including Ontario premier Doug Ford and his Nova Scotia counterpart Tim Houston, also blasted Trump.

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