Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a large “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” sign after US President Donald Trump ordered agencies to call the lake “Lake America”. Ford said the original name would remain long after Trump’s presidency. Canadian leaders mocked the move, while officials highlighted the lake’s Indigenous origins and historical significance.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to US President Donald Trump’s “Lake America” decree on Saturday by unveiling a billboard-sized message on the Canadian shoreline declaring “Lake Ontario. Now and Always”, as Canadian leaders met the move largely with ridicule rather than outrage.

Wearing a Team Canada soccer jersey, Ford unveiled the sign near Grimsby, Ontario, and posed for photographs. The 24-by-12-foot (7.3-by-3.6 metre) sign stands on 6-foot (1.8-metre) legs, putting its top about 18 feet (5.5 metres) above the ground, roughly two storeys high. The message is also displayed in French.

The move followed Trump’s executive order directing US federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America”. After months of tariffs, threats to make Canada the 51st US state and personal attacks on its leaders, Canada’s response combined defiance with mockery.

Ford said Trump was trying to rename the lake because Ontario and Canada were “standing up for ourselves” and argued that its existing name would outlast the President.